Nebulae · Nebula · planetary nebula
A planetary nebula with intricate shells of gas. Explore its views, where their colours came from, and palettes you can use.
Featured palette: Hubble ACS view, 2004 (Sampled from this image)
#545664#01040C#04131F#1B2B35#757886#3E4C54#B0AAC2
Credit: ESA, NASA, HEIC and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA). · released 9 September 2004
About Cat’s Eye Nebula
A planetary nebula with intricate shells of gas.
| Classification | Nebula (planetary nebula) |
|---|---|
| Identifiers | NGC 6543 |
| Distance | 3,000 light-yearsdistance stated by the image publisher · ESA/Hubble |
| Observed light (this view) | Oiii, Oiii, H-alpha + Nii |
Why these colours?
Hubble ACS view, 2004
Emission-line and broadband filters assigned to visible colours. Filters listed by the publisher: Oiii (502 nm), Oiii (505 nm), H-alpha + Nii (658 nm).
From: Hubble ACS view, 2004 Visible-light composite
Colour clusters describe pixels in an image; they cannot identify a mineral, a gas or a physical temperature. Shares of pixels describe the sampled region of the image, not the object’s surface.
Colours from selected views
Palettes sampled from identified images and regions, or calculated from a documented model. These values describe each image or model, not one permanent colour of Cat’s Eye Nebula.
Hubble ACS view, 2004
Sampled from this image · Hubble ACS view, 2004
#545664RGB 84, 86, 100region average#01040CRGB 1, 4, 1229% of the region#04131FRGB 4, 19, 3127% of the region#1B2B35RGB 27, 43, 5317% of the region#757886RGB 117, 120, 13410% of the region#3E4C54RGB 62, 76, 849% of the region#B0AAC2RGB 176, 170, 1948% of the region
See where these colours came from
Creative palettes inspired by Cat’s Eye Nebula
A design derived from the selected representation. It is not a scientific colour measurement. Each colour keeps the sampled colour it was made from.
Inspired by Cat’s Eye Nebula
Inspired by this object
#262E3BRGB 38, 46, 59from #01040C#3F5160RGB 63, 81, 96from #04131F#637581RGB 99, 117, 129from #1B2B35#8B9AA3RGB 139, 154, 163from #3E4C54#BBBECDRGB 187, 190, 205from #757886#EAE4FDRGB 234, 228, 253from #B0AAC2
Colours of the first view of Cat’s Eye Nebula with their lightness spread evenly, for a design palette.
Explore the views
Pick a colour from the image. Click or tap the picture to read a colour. Picked colours are yours, not catalogue samples.
No supported 3D model is available for this view. You can still inspect the source imagery and palette.
Use these colours
Every palette above opens in the palette generator. With JavaScript you can also add colours to your cosmic palette, save them, make a gradient or pattern, preview them in a design or a room (you choose which colour goes on which surface), check digital accessibility and export them. Each colour keeps the view and sample it came from.
Paint matches compare digital swatches for design inspiration. They are not physical equivalents of light from space. Edits create a new design palette. The original representation remains unchanged.
Sources
- Hubble FAQs — image processing and colour — NASA
- Dying star creates fantasy-like sculpture of gas and dust — ESA/Hubble
Image credits
- Hubble ACS view, 2004: ESA, NASA, HEIC and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA). CC BY 4.0. Resized for the web from the publisher’s file (sha256 f8b6cf4b5aab9d9d4e76c5c566423f51e8b37f899631e37b2107e4aafd6b594f).
Images were resized once for the web; colours were measured from the published files (k-means in OKLab, pcke-oklab-kmeans-1); calculated colours use the CIE 1931 2° observer. Facts last reviewed 25 October 2026. Catalogue pcke-cosmos-2026-10-25, page revision 697ac1bbbf2e. No ESA, ESO or NASA endorsement is implied.