A new image of the Cat's Eye Nebula, also known as NGC 6543, produced by the Hubble and Euclid space telescopes. (Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, ESA Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA/Q1-2025, J.-C. Cuillandre & E. Bertin (CEA Paris-Saclay), Z. Tsvetanov)

Two powerful space telescopes turned their gaze onto the Cat's Eye Nebula , a planetary nebula 4,400 light-years away from Earth in the constellation Draco. The new images reveal stunning details about what happens as a star approaches the end of its evolutionary life cycle.

What is it?

The Cat's Eye Nebula is known as a planetary nebula , but that name is somewhat misleading, as these clouds of ionized gas don't have anything to do with planets. These nebulas appeared spherical through early telescopes, prompting astronomers to believe they might be similar to the gas giants in our solar system.

Today, we know these colorful objects are massive shells of gas emitted by stars in their final stages.…