Enhanced Color:
Cat's Eye Nebula

The Cat’s Eye Nebula consists of glowing gases ejected into outer space by a dying star. Individual chemical elements in the nebula emit light at very specific wavelengths.

The three black-and-white images used to construct this image represent light from hydrogen atoms, oxygen atoms, and nitrogen ions (nitrogen atoms with one electron removed).

All three images correspond to different shades of red light, so we enhanced the color differences to make the nebula’s delicate structures more obvious.

In this case, light from hydrogen atoms is shown in red, light from oxygen is shown in blue, and light from nitrogen is shown in green.

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