Cat's Eye Nebula

space · dying stars · nebula

Discovered in 1786. William Herschel, a famous astronomer, found the Cat's Eye Nebula on February 15, 1786. It lives in a constellation called Draco in the northern sky.

Made of gas. For a long time, people thought planetary nebulae were made of stars, but in the 1800s, an astronomer named William Huggins used a special instrument to prove they were actually giant clouds of glowing gas.

Powered by a dying star. At the very center of the Cat's Eye Nebula is a super hot, dying Wolf-Rayet star that makes the whole nebula glow and shine.

Rings like a dartboard. When the Hubble Space Telescope took pictures of the Cat's Eye Nebula, it revealed amazing patterns of rings spreading out from the center, kind of like a target or dartboard.

Glows in many colors. Scientists have studied this nebula using light from radio waves all the way to X-rays, which helps them understand what's happening inside this cosmic masterpiece.