Particle.news
Download on the App Store

Hubble–Euclid Image Reveals Cat’s Eye Nebula in Unprecedented Detail and Context

The paired datasets let astronomers trace a fossil record of episodic mass loss.

Overview

  • NASA and ESA released a combined view on March 4, 2026, merging Hubble’s high-resolution core image with Euclid’s wide-field survey.
  • Hubble resolves concentric shells, high-speed jets and dense knots shaped by shock interactions in the inner nebula.
  • Euclid places the object in a backdrop of distant galaxies and shows an older halo of clumps and streamers expelled before the central shell formed.
  • The nebula lies about 4,300–4,400 light-years away in Draco, with the faint halo estimated at 5,000–7,000 years old and the bright inner shell roughly 1,000 years old.
  • Researchers interpret the structures as records of episodic outflows from the evolved central star, with a possible binary companion remaining an open hypothesis.