Dying star creates fantasy-like sculpture of gas and dust

FOR RELEASE: 9:00 am (EDT) September 9, 2004

PHOTO NO.: STScI-PRC04-27

DYING STAR CREATES FANTASY-LIKE SCULPTURE OF GAS AND DUST

In this detailed view from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, the so-called
Cat's Eye Nebula looks like the penetrating eye of the disembodied
sorcerer Sauron from the film adaptation of "The Lord of the Rings."
The nebula, formally cataloged NGC 6543, is every bit as inscrutable as
the J.R.R. Tolkien phantom character. Though the Cat's Eye Nebula was
one of the first planetary nebula to be discovered, it is one of the
most complex such nebulae seen in space. This image was taken in 2002
with Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys.

Credit: NASA, ESA, HEIC, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
Acknowledgment: R. Corradi (Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes, Spain) and
Z. Tsvetanov (NASA)

To see and read more, please visit:
http://hubblesite.org/news/2004/27
http://heritage.stsci.edu/2004/27
http://www.spacetelescope.org/news/html/heic0414.html

For additional information, please contact:
Romano Corradi, Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes, La Palma, Spain,
(phone) 922-42-5461, (cell phone) 626-485736), (e-mail)
or

Lars Lindberg Christensen, Hubble European Space Agency Information
Centre, Garching, Germany, (phone) 49-89-3200-6306, (cell phone)
49-173-3872-621, (e-mail) or

Keith Noll, Hubble Heritage Team, Space Telescope Science Institute,
3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, (phone) 410-338-1828,
(fax) 410-338-4579, (e-mail) .

The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) is operated by
the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc.
(AURA), for NASA, under contract with the Goddard Space Flight
Center, Greenbelt, MD. The Hubble Space Telescope is a project
of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space
Agency (ESA).


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Jacques :-)

www.spacepatches.info