I don't think I'd ever seen this before: the Southern Crab Nebula, in Centaurus. The winged shape and beautiful gold and green remind me more of a butterfly than a crab, so it's a nice followup to my Washington adventures.
There's a binary star system at the heart of this nebula; a red giant sheds gases onto its much hotter companion white dwarf, which responds by tossing everything out into space.
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, STScI
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