Cat’s Eye Nebula (NGC 6543)
The Cat’s Eye Nebula or NGC 6543, is a planetary nebula in the constellation of Draco at magnitude 8.1 with high surface brightness, discovered by William Herschel in 1786. While the brighter inner nebula is rather small (16″ * 25″), it has an extened halo of matter that the progenitor star ejected during its red giant phase. This halo extends over a diameter of about 300″. The cat’s Eye nebula lies three thousand light-years from Earth.
The image is a combination of broadband LRGB and narrowband Ha/OIII images. Long exposed Ha/OIII where used to display the faint, outer halo of the PN. To reveal the structure of the small, very bright center, a short exposed RGB was blended over the ‘wide-field’ image.
[description from wikipedia]
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Hello, my name is Martin Rusterholz. I’m a Swiss amateur astrophotographer living near Zurich, the biggest town in Switzerland. My interest in astronomy started when I was 16. At that time, I built my first Newtonian telescope and mount. I studied physics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) which was the only study including at least some aspects of astronomy and astrophysics.
“Looking at the nights sky is an experience touching everybody deeply inside, something common to all human beings independent to the language spoken by the individuals”.
Deep-sky astrophotography is my passion. 