Cat's Eye (NGC6543) Planetary Nebula in Draco

(RA 17h 58.6m , Dec. +66°38', 8.1 mag., >18" in diameter)

This bright planetary nebula shows interesting detail at high power even in small telescopes. It was the first planetary nebula analyzed with a spectroscope (by Hyggins in 1864) and the presence of emission lines revealed that those objects are conposed or rarified gases. Cat Eye Nebula is visible even in binoculars (as a "star") about 5° NEE of z Draconis (see finder chart below) however only high power telescopic view reveals any detail.

The image above was taken on November 2, 2000 from Harrowsmith, Ontario. Cookbook 245 LDC camera was used on Celestron Ultima 8 SCT with eyepiece projection to achieve f20. White exposures (16 x 60 sec.) were combined with cyan, magenta and yellow-filtered images (4 x 60 sec. , 3 x 60 sec. and 4 x 60 sec., respectively) using AIP4WIN software and the image was furter adjusted in Lab color space with Corel PhotoPaint 8.

Only a quater of the original Cookbook frame is shown. North is to the left.

Map created in Guide 7.0 - 9° x 10°. North is up.

Number of visitors:

© Jan Wisniewski