Cat's Eye first view

I had my first glimpse of the Cat's Eye (NGC 6543) planetary nebula in Draco last evening.The latest issue of Sky and Telescope for September, 2009 published a fascinating article about this deep space object. Through my 12 inch lightbridge it appeared as a small, but very bright turquoise hue object. The shape also appeared as in photographs, tapered at opposite ends. Unfortunately, the shortest focal length eyepiece I had was 13mm and no barlow lense. I could just barely make out some inner detail, and I am uncertain just what I had exactly seen. Through an ultrahigh contrast nebula filter, IC 4677 was the greatest challenge of all. I believed I had caught a glimpse of it around the nebula and a nearby bright star, however it did not seem to match the heavy concentrations of gas seen in time exposure photographs. I can't wait to get a barlow or a higher power eyepiece, I think I will see significant detail in this object. 8O