• Question: How did the cats eye nebulae become the shape it is? Also whats your favorite nebulae?

    Asked by alpacasmurf to Nick, Alan on 11 Mar 2014.
    • Photo: Nick Wright

      Nick Wright answered on 11 Mar 2014:

      The cats eye nebula is a planetary nebula which is caused when a star probably like our own Sun dies. The star begins to puff up like an inflated balloon until some of its outer layers can’t hold on to the star itself and they escape. This often happens in lots of pulsations which leads to shells or halos of materials flying off from the star. This material is then illuminated by the star itself and glows in lots of different colours depending on what material it is made out of. I think planetary nebulae are beautiful and there are lots of different ones that all look a little different – try looking for more of them!

    • Photo: Alan Fitzsimmons

      Alan Fitzsimmons answered on 11 Mar 2014:

      No one knows how the Cats eye nebula got its shape! One idea is that the dying star throws out its outer layers in shells around its equator, and thin jets along its axis. Another idea is that there might be two stars closely orbiting each other in the centre, and it got its shape because of how the two stars affected the gas being thrown out.

      So a lot of astronomers have wondered about this over the years, but there’s no clear answer. Maybe you’ll become an astronomer and solve the mystery?

      My favourite nebula is the Orion nebula. It’s easy to spot by eye, you can see the gas in a pair of binoculars, and in a telescope you can see stars that have been born within the last million years.

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