The Cat's Eye Nebula

"Though the Cat's Eye Nebula was one of the first planetary nebulae to be discovered, it is one of the most complex such nebulae seen in space. A planetary nebula forms when Sun-like stars gently eject their outer gaseous layers that form bright nebulae with amazing and confounding shapes.

"In 1994, Hubble first revealed NGC 6543's surprisingly intricate structures, including concentric gas shells, jets of high-speed gas, and unusual shock-induced knots of gas.

"As if the Cat's Eye itself isn't spectacular enough, this new image taken with Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys reveals the full beauty of a bull's eye pattern of eleven or even more concentric rings around the Cat's Eye. Each ring is actually the edge of a spherical bubble seen projected onto the sky — that's why it appears bright along its outer edge."