This is a zoom-in of Euclid’s Deep Field North, showing the Cat’s Eye Nebula in the centre of the image, around 3000 light-years away. Also known as NGC 6543, this nebula is a visual ‘fossil record’ of the dynamics and late evolution of a dying star. This dying star is shedding its outer colourful shells.
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View the entire mosaic of Euclid’s Deep Field North here.
[Image description: The Cat’s Eye Nebula takes centre stage in a sparkling sea of stars and galaxies. A dot lies at the centre of the nebula, the sight of the dying star. Around it are a series of complex and colourful layers and loops of gas and dust that have been ejected by the star over time. Further away are tendrils and patches of gas and dust in various shapes and sizes that give the impression of fragments of a burst balloon frozen around the point of explosion. Millions of galaxies lie in the background. Numerous bright stars with distinct diffraction spikes are also clearly visible.]