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                           Astronomy Picture of the Day   
      
       Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our   
         fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation   
                       written by a professional astronomer.   
      
                                  2024 January 7   
      An image of the Cat's Eye Nebula shows an unsually shaped gas structure   
           glowing in purple with a bright orange center. Please see the   
                    explanation for more detailed information.   
      
                     The Cat's Eye Nebula in Optical and X-ray   
        Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble Legacy Archive; Chandra X-ray Obs.;   
                         Processing & Copyright: Rudy Pohl   
      
      Explanation: To some it looks like a cat's eye. To others, perhaps like   
      a giant cosmic conch shell. It is actually one of the brightest and   
      most highly detailed planetary nebula known, composed of gas expelled   
      in the brief yet glorious phase near the end of life of a Sun-like   
      star. This nebula's dying central star may have produced the outer   
      circular concentric shells by shrugging off outer layers in a series of   
      regular convulsions. The formation of the beautiful,   
      complex-yet-symmetric inner structures, however, is not well   
      understood. The featured image is a composite of a digitally sharpened   
      Hubble Space Telescope image with X-ray light captured by the orbiting   
      Chandra Observatory. The exquisite floating space statue spans over   
      half a light-year across. Of course, gazing into this Cat's Eye,   
      humanity may well be seeing the fate of our sun, destined to enter its   
      own planetary nebula phase of evolution ... in about 5 billion years.   
      
         Free APOD Lecture: January 9, 2024 to the Amateur Astronomers of   
                              Association of New York   
                       Tomorrow's picture: Venus year around   
        __________________________________________________________________   
      
          Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)   
               NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.   
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                              NASA Science Activation   
                                & Michigan Tech. U.   
      
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