NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day

2022 July 10

In the Center of the Cat's Eye Nebula

Three thousand light-years away, a dying star throws off shells of glowing gas. This image from the Hubble Space Telescope reveals the Cat's Eye Nebula (NGC 6543), to be one of the most complex planetary nebulae known. Spanning half a light-year, the features seen in the Cat's Eye are so complex that astronomers suspect the bright central object may actually be a binary star system. The term planetary nebula, used to describe this general class of objects, is misleading. Although these objects may appear round and planet-like in small telescopes, high resolution images with large telescopes reveal them to be stars surrounded by cocoons of gas blown off in the late stages of stellar evolution. Gazing into this Cat's Eye, astronomers may well be seeing more than detailed structure, they may be seeing the fate of our Sun, destined to enter its own planetary nebula phase of evolution … in about 5 billion years.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

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Dig for Georgia Guidestones time capsule adds to mystery

July 10, 2022 10:30 AM | Updated Jul 10, 2022, 11:12 AM

The promise of a trove buried underneath the now-destroyed Georgia Guidestones appears to be a bust.

The mysterious structure unveiled in 1980 was demolished Wednesday after an explosion that caused extensive damage, but there was lingering intrigue about the possibility of a time capsule.

A slab on-site had two unfinished lines that said, "Placed six feet below this spot on …" that was "to be opened on," leading to a search by county officials.

With the help of a tape measure, Elbert County Road Department officials used an excavator to dig 6 feet into the ground. However, officials said they did not find anything but dirt, according to Fox 5 Atlanta.

“There was no hole. There was no nothing. It was a slab of concrete on top of dirt,” said police Lt. Shane Allen, per the Epoch Times.

Adding to the spectacle after the Georgia Guidestones got destroyed were online pranksters who claimed officials recovered a time capsule containing items from the late 1970s and early 1980s, including a signed issue of Playboy magazine featuring Burt Reynolds, a Peterbilt emblem, an 8-track of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, and Quaaludes.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/georgia-guidestones-time-capsule-mystery

https://www.theepochtimes.com/authorities-reveal-result-of-search-for-georgia-guidestones-time-capsule_4586652.html

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