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Planetary nebulae

The most detailed image of the planetary nebula NGC 2899 as captured by the FORS instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope in northern Chile. This object has never been photographed in such striking detail, with even the faint outer edges of the planetary nebula glowing against the background stars. Photo: ESO

Like a butterfly floating in space

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From ground-based telescopes, the so-called "ant nebula" (Menzel 3, or Mz 3) resembles the head and thorax of a garden-variety ant. This dramatic NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image, showing 10 times more detail, reveals the "ant's" body as a pair of fiery lobes protruding from a dying, Sun-like star. The Hubble images directly challenge old ideas about the last stages in the lives of stars. By observing Sun-like stars as they approach their deaths, the Hubble Heritage image of Mz 3 - along with pictures of other planetary nebulae - shows that our Sun's fate will probably be more interesting, complex, and striking than astronomers imagined just a few years ago.

The celestial ant that shoots laser bursts

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Abell 39, object number 39 in the catalog of large nebulae discovered by George Abell in 1966 is of a large nebula discovered by George Abell in 1966, is a fine example of a planetary nebula. This photograph was taken in 1997 from the Kite Peak National Observatory in Arizona through a blue-green filter that isolates the light emitted by the oxygen atoms in the nebula at a wavelength of 500.7 nm. The diameter of the nebula is about five light years, and the thickness of the spherical shell is about a third of a light year. The nebula itself is about 7,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Hercules. Credit: TARector (NRAO/AUI/NSF and NOAO/AURA/NSF) and BAWolpa (NOAO/AURA/NSF) WIYN

What will happen when our sun dies?

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Hubble: The last picture of the old camera

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A glimpse into the eye of God

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This is what the sun will look like in 5 billion years

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