The Cat’s Eye nebula is by far one of the most stunning planetary nebulae discovered thus far. It lies about three thousand light-years from Earth in the constellation Draco and the nebula itself stretches almost half of a light-year across. This particular nebula and any of its kind are of great interest to astronomers since the sun’s ultimate fate is similar to the star that formed this nebula. Within the next 4 to 5 billion years, the sun is expected to transition from a main sequence yellow-dwarf to a red-giant. After it consumes the rest of the hydrogen and helium fuel in its core, the outer envelope of gas will eject into space, forming a planetary nebula. While the rest of the mass of the star will be compacted into a dense core called a white-dwarf. Stars that are significantly more massive than the sun will form into a neutron star or a blackhole.
(via we-are-star-stuff)
