Anyone Else Want To Smash Their Face Into This “pillow”? Just Us … Ok! 😅

Anyone else want to smash their face into this “pillow”? Just us … ok! 😅

Researchers propose that this planetary nebula was created by two stars that sloughed off material over thousands of years in fits and starts. As the pair closely orbited one another, they may have entered a phase of more violent and highly directed mass ejections.

The Hubble Space Telescope first looked at this planetary nebula in 1998. By comparing the old and new Hubble observations, we can literally see how it changed over time.

What’s special about this image is that the Hubble’s unique ultraviolet capabilities helped reveal how much dust obscures the nebula’s central star, as well as the star’s temperature and age.

Credit: NASA, ESA, Joel Kastner (RIT).

ALT TEXT: A nebula with a pink elliptical shell is surrounded by concentric of blue gas, all set on a black star-filled background. A small bright star is in the middle of the nebula. On top of the pink shell are a series of wide, blue, linear structures. Two of them cross, forming a boxy, wide X shape. A third cuts vertically through the center of the X. Superimposed on all of these structures are vein-like filaments of dark red gas, including a thicker red equatorial belt.