APOD- Cat's Eye Nebula

The Cat's-Eye Nebula, 3000 light-years away, is a slowly-dying star. IT is one of the most complex planetary nebula known to exist, and the center object may in fact be a binary star system. Though it is called a plantary nebula, it is in fact merely a star that is surrounded by a cocoon of gaseous particles that were thrown off during the later stages of stellar evolution.

NGC 6745 is the result of the collision of two galaxies over several hundred million years. It is highly likely that no stars in the galaxies collided, but the gravitational forces are distorting the two galaxies greatly. One knot o0f gas in the lower right has actually begun to form stars. This collision is about 200 million light-years away, and measures about 80 light-years across.