The Cat's Eye Nebula (NGC 6543), a planetary nebula in the constellation of Draco, is one of the most complex nebulae ever observed, dominated by a bright and hot star at it's center, which around 1000 years ago lost its outer envelope creating the object.
The Cat's Eye has been observed across the full electromagnetic spectrum, from far-infrared to X-rays, which uncovered several unsolved mysteries. The complexity of the nebula may be caused in part by material ejected from a binary central star, but to date, there is no direct evidence of a companion. The Hubble Telescope observations have revealed a number of faint rings around the Eye, which are spherical shells ejected by the central star in the distant past, but the mechanism of those ejections remains a puzzle.
Credit: NASA Hubble
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