Planetary Nebula Gallery: Also known as the Cat's Eye, this planetary nebula is located about 3,000 light years from Earth.

Composite image of data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope of NGC 6543 shows a phase that Sun-like stars undergo at the end of their lives. Material from the outer layers of the star in the Cat's Eye is flying away at about 4 million miles per hour. A hot core is left behind that eventually collapses to become a white dwarf star. The Chandra data reveal that the central star in NGC 6543 is surrounded by a cloud of multi-million-degree gas.

(Credits: X-ray: NASA/CXC/RIT/J.Kastner et al.; Optical: NASA/STScI)