There’s the Godzilla-like nebula, and then the Cat’s Eye Nebula in which the star ejected its mass in a series of pulses at 1,500-year intervals. Researchers have created the first computer-generated 3D model of the Cat’s Eye Nebula, revealing never before seen details, such as a pair of symmetric rings encircling its outer shell.
Nebula essentially form when a dying solar-mass star ejects its outer layer of gas, resulting in a colorful, shell-like that makes them easy to distinguish. The Cat’s Eye Nebula, also known as NGC 6543, is located just over 3,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Draco. Creating a 3D model (above left) of it required using spectral data from the San Pedro Martir National Observatory in Mexico. When this data was combined with images from the Hubble Space Telescope, a 3D model was created, thus establishing that rings of high-density gas were wrapped around the outer shell of the Cat’s Eye.
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When I first saw the Cat’s Eye Nebula, I was astounded by its beautiful, perfectly symmetric structure. I was even more surprised that its 3D structure was not fully understood. It was very rewarding to be able to do astrophysical research of my own that actually has an impact in the field. Precessing jets in planetary nebulae are relatively rare, so it’s important to understand how they contribute to the shaping of more complex systems like the Cat’s Eye,” said Ryan Clairmont, lead author of the paper and prospective undergraduate at Stanford University.
