Looking Down a Barrel of Gas at a Doomed Star
Depicts: M57, The Ring Nebula, NGC 6720, IRAS 18517+3257
Copyright: Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI/NASA)
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured the sharpest view yet of the most famous of all planetary nebulae: the Ring Nebula (M57). In this October 1998 image, the telescope has looked down a barrel of gas cast off by a dying star thousands of years ago. This photo reveals elongated dark clumps of material embedded in the gas at the edge of the nebula; the dying central star floating in a blue haze of hot gas. The nebula is about a light-year in diameter and is located some 2,000 light-years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Lyra.
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Last Update: 10 Jun 2003
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| Reference: | opo9901 |
| Object: | M57, The Ring Nebula, NGC 6720, IRAS 18517+3257 |
| Instrument: | WFPC2
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Hi-Res [JPG]
Hi-Res [TIF]