             APOD: 2018 June 10 - The Cats Eye Nebula from Hubble

                         Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! [1] Each day a different image or photograph of our
 fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a
                           professional astronomer.

                                 2018 June 10
                                      [2]
                      The Cat's Eye Nebula from Hubble
Image Credit: NASA [3] , ESA [4] , HEIC [5] , and The Hubble Heritage Team [6]
                            (STScI [7] / AURA [8] )

Explanation: To some, it may look like a cat's eye. The alluring Cat's Eye [9]
nebula, however, lies three thousand light-years from Earth across
interstellar space. A classic planetary nebula [10] , the Cat's Eye (NGC 6543)
represents a final, brief yet glorious phase [11]  in the life of a sun-like
star. This nebula [12] 's dying central star may have produced the simple,
outer pattern of dusty concentric shells [13] by shrugging [14]  off outer
[15] layers [16]  in a series of regular convulsions. But the formation of the
beautiful, more complex inner structures is not well understood [17] . Seen so
clearly in this digitally sharpened Hubble [18]  Space Telescope image, the
truly cosmic eye [19]  is over half a light-year [20]  across. Of course,
gazing into this Cat's Eye [21] , astronomers may well be seeing the fate of
our sun, destined to enter its own planetary nebula phase [22]  of evolution
... in about 5 billion years.

                   Tomorrow's picture: a long time ago [23]

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Site notes:
  [1] archivepix.html
  [2] image/1806/catseye4_hubble_1417.jpg
  [3] https://www.nasa.gov/
  [4] http://www.esa.int/ESA
  [5] http://www.spacetelescope.org/about_us/heic/
  [6]
http://heritage.stsci.edu/commonpages/infoindex/ourproject/moreproject.html
  [7] http://www.stsci.edu/
  [8] http://www.aura-astronomy.org/
  [9] http://heritage.stsci.edu/2004/27/
  [10] http://messier.seds.org/planetar.html
  [11] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetary_nebula
  [12] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tw0VJ1K93PM
  [13] http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0401056
  [14] ap011003.html
  [15] ap031101.html
  [16] ap100509.html
  [17] ap061112.html
  [18] http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2004/27/image/a/
  [19] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOA-19n4tiQ
  [20] https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/light-year/en/
  [21] ap031101.html
  [22] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetary_nebula
  [23] ap180611.html
  [24] ap180609.html
  [25] archivepix.html
  [26] lib/apsubmit2015.html
  [27] lib/aptree.html
  [28] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  [29] calendar/allyears.html
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  [31] lib/edlinks.html
  [32] lib/about_apod.html
  [33] http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=180610
  [34] ap180611.html
  [35] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  [36] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  [37] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  [38] http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  [39] lib/about_apod.html#srapply
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