ESA shares Hubble image of Cat's Eye Nebula ejecting mass equal to our solar system

Celebrating International Cat Day, European Space Agency (ESA) has shared a ‘purrfect’ picture of a nebula resembling felines on Earth. Located three thousand light-years away from Earth, nebula is named Cat's Eye nebula for shapes generated by ejection of glowing gas as central star approaches end of its life. According to agency, nebula, also called NGC 6543, was discovered by William Herschel in 1786 and remains an interesting target for ground-based astronomers. 

Hubble telescope observes Cat's Eye nebula

picture was first released back in 2008 and nebula was photographed using NASA-ESA Hubble telescope's vanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). Interestingly, picture clearly highlights a pattern of multiple concentric rings, or shells, around Cat's Eye. According to NASA, each of se rings represents  edge of a spherical bubble seen projected onto sky, a phenomenon that explains nebula's brightness on outer edge. 

After years of observations, astronomers concluded that star at nebula's center ejected its mass in a series of pulses at 1,500-year intervals. Surprisingly enough, se ejections resulted in dust shells that have a mass equivalent to all  planets in our solar system combined, although just 1% of mass of sun. 

" bull's-eye patterns seen around planetary nebulae come as a surprise to astronomers because y h no expectation that episodes of mass loss at end of stellar lives would repeat every 1,500 years", NASA explained in one of its descriptions of nebula. Through multiple ories, astronomers have tried to explain reason for loss of mass of central star. ories suggest that reason might be cycles of magnetic activity somewhat similar to our own Sun's sunspot cycle, action of companion stars orbiting around dying star, and stellar pulsations.

Anor interesting ory suggests that star first smoothly ejects materials which are n transformed into rings due to formation of waves in outflowing material.