NGC 6543, also known as The Cat's Eye Nebule,
is a planetary nebula in Draco.
The core of NGC 6543 is about 0.2 ly across
and the nebula is about 3.3 kly from us.
Hover over the image for an annotated view.
Date: 21, 22, and 23 June 2025
Telescope: Orion 180mm Mak-Cass (2590mm, f/14, nominally 2700mm, f/15)
Guiding: ZWO ASI120MM mini mono guide camera,
SVBony SV165 Mini 40mm f/4 guide scope
Computer: ASIair pro Raspberry Pi
Mount: iOptron CEM40
Camera: ZWO ASI071MC Pro Cooled (-10°C) Color CMOS gain 90
Pixel size: 4.78 μm
Resolution: 0.393 arcsec/pixel
Filter: none
Frames: one hundred eighty-four 240 second subs
Date: 29 July 2025
Telescope: Celestron C14 SCT (3910mm, f/11)
Starizona SCT Coma Corrector/Reducer (2668.5mm, f/7.5)
Guiding: ZWO ASI183MM pro camera
Computer: ASIair plus 256GB
Mount: iOptron CEM120
Camera: ZWO ASI2600MC Pro Cooled (0°C) Color CMOS with gain 0
Pixel size: 3.76 μm
Resolution: 0.292 arcsec/pixel
Filter: Optolong UV/IR cut
Frames: sixty-four 300 second subs
FOV: cropped to 20' × 13' 20"
Total Time: 17 hours and 36 minutes
Calibration: 20 flats, 20 dark flats, and 20 darks
Processing: Pixinsight – SPCC, DBE, SPCC, BlurXT, NoiseXT → Linear
MStr, GHS, HST, PMath MStr + GHS + HST → Stars, Sat,
StarXT, MStr, GHS, HST, PMath MStr + GHS + HST → Starless, Sat,
PMath ~(~Stars*~Starless) → Blend, scale
Location: June 2025, Cherry Springs State Park near Coudersport, PA
July 2025, Darling Hill Observatory near Vesper, NY
