Menu Close

Key Information

Cat’s Eye Nebula

Type Planetary Nebula
Diameter 0.4 light years
Distance About 3,300 light years
Date of Discovery February 15, 1786 (William Herschel)
Other Names NGC 6543, Snail Nebula, Sunflower Nebula, Caldwell 6

Learning Point

  • The Cat’s Eye Nebula is a planetary nebula, with a beautiful shape that resembles a cat’s eye. It has been carefully examined by astronomers in many different wavelengths of light.

Project

  • Find out who discovered the nebula, when, and how this helped our understanding of planetary nebulae.
  • Overview
  • Halo
The Cat's Eye Nebula
J.P. Harrington and K.J. Borkowski (University of Maryland), and NASA, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The Halo of the Cat's Eye Nebula
Nordic Optical Telescope and Romano Corradi (Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes, Spain), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Location

Located in Draco

Fun Facts

  • The Cat’s Eye Nebula was discovered by William Herschel on February 15, 1786.
  • The centre of the nebula contains a bright star, possibly a binary system, and one of them might be a Wolf-Rayet star.
  • The surface temperatures of known Wolf–Rayet stars range from 35,000 °F to around 377,000 °F, hotter than almost all other kinds of stars.
  • Planetary nebulas are a type of nebula consisting of an expanding, glowing shell of ionized gas ejected from red giant stars late in their lives.

Past Lessons

81 March 4, 2024 (North America)
No Past Lessons

Upcoming Lessons

No Upcoming Lessons