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<img border="0" src="AO/luckycam/catseye_lucky.gif"><br>
<p>
<b>The Catseye Nebula with Adaptive Optics</b></p>
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<p>
The above image shows the Cat's Eye Nebula (NGC 6543) seen in 
visible light using the 200-inch Hale Telescope at Palomar 
Observatory. This animated gif cycles between the standard 
visible-light view which is blurred by Earth's atmosphere 
and a corrected image using Palomar's 
<a href="/palomar/AO">Adaptive Optics System</a> and 
<a href="http://www.astro.caltech.edu/palomar/AO/luckycam.html">LuckyCam</a>.
<p>
The Cat's Eye Nebula is an example of a  planetary nebula - 
an expanding cloud of gas given off by a dying star. It is 
located about 3,300 light years in the direction of the 
constellation of Draco.
<p>
The images of the Cat's Eye Nebula, 20 arcseconds on a side, 
are are a false-color combination of three wavelengths of light. 
The green light is mostly 500nm oxygen emission, red light from 
H-alpha hydrogen emission and blue color which has contributed by 
near-infrared (I-band) light.
<p>
Working on the Lucky Imaging project were Nicholas Law, 
Richard Dekany, Mike Ireland, and Anna Moore from Caltech 
along with the Palomar 200-inch crew. Other team members 
included Craig Mackay from Cambridge, James Lloyd from 
Cornell University, and Peter Tuthill, Henry Woodruff, and 
Gordon Robertson from the University of Sydney.
<p>
The research was based on observations obtained at the Hale 
Telescope, Palomar Observatory, as part of a collaborative 
agreement between the California Institute of Technology, 
its divisions Caltech Optical Observatories and the Jet 
Propulsion Laboratory (operated for NASA), and Cornell University.
<p>
<li>
<a href="http://www.astro.caltech.edu/palomar/AO/luckycam/Catseye_seeing.jpg">
Cat's Eye Nebula as imaged conventionally by the Palomar 200 inch telescope</a>

<li>
<a href="http://www.astro.caltech.edu/palomar/AO/luckycam/Catseye_lucky.jpg">
Cat's Eye Nebula corrected with LuckyCam AO</a>
<li>
<a href="http://www.astro.caltech.edu/palomar/AO/luckycam/catseye_lucky.gif">
Animated Gif showing uncorrected and corrected views of the Cat's Eye Nebula</a>
<p>
<a href="http://mr.caltech.edu/media/Press_Releases/PR13030.html">
Caltech Astronomers Obtain Sharpest-Ever Pictures of the Heavens</a>
<p>

<font size=-1>Images are copyrighted by their respective 
owners. Contact <a href="photography.html">the photographers</a> directly 
for permission to use their images for any purpose. <p></font>

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