Cat's Eye Nebula - Observations

Observations

The Nebula was discovered by William Herschel on February 15, 1786, who likened its appearance to a planetary disk. Cat's Eye was the first planetary nebula to be observed with a spectroscope. It was done by the pioneer spectroscopist William Huggins on August 29, 1864. Huggins' observations, which revealed that nebula's spectrum was non-continuous and made of a few bright lines, were the first indication that planetary nebulae consist of extremely rarefied gases. Since those early observations, NGC 6543 has been observed right across the electromagnetic spectrum.

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