NGC 6543, better known as the Cat’s Eye Nebula, is one of the most complex planetary nebulae known. Located about 3,000 light-years away in the constellation Draco, it marks the final evolutionary stage of a Sun-like star. The nebula’s bright inner region, shaped by powerful stellar winds, reveals intricate concentric shells, knots, and jets, all sculpted by the dying central star. Surrounding this core are faint outer halos, remnants of earlier mass ejections stretching across several light-years.

This image captures extraordinary detail in the Cat’s Eye structure, thanks to a combination of long narrowband exposures and high-resolution lucky imaging. Hydrogen-alpha, Oxygen III, and broadband color data reveal the blue-green glow of doubly ionized oxygen and the soft red emission of hydrogen, tracing the nebula’s layered complexity against a field of distant stars.