This is the Dumbbell Nebula, number 27 on our friend Monsieur Messier's list of Things That Are Not Comets.
Small to mid-sized stars like our sun don't die in a blaze of supernova glory; they become planetary nebulae like this, throwing off layers of gas that bloom and eventually fade, while the parent star settles into sensible retirement as a white dwarf.
Image Credit and Copyright: Bill Snyder (Bill Snyder Photography)
No comments:
Post a Comment