A complex planetary nebula, NGC 6543 (HST).
Caption: A Hubble Space Telescope image of one of the most complex planetary nebulae ever seen, NGC 6543, taken in September 1994. A possible explanation for tangle of shells, jets and knots of gas is that the central "star" may be a binary system. NGC 6543 is 3,000 light years away and estimated to be 1,000 years old.
Copyright:
Credit: J. P. Harrington, K. J. Borkowsky and NASA