# @nasa on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DA1l1dntfY2
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/23943204-nasa-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/thumbnails/cc36ff4db6.jpg
- **Posted:** 2024-10-07T21:05:08.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** NASA (@NASA) — https://gondola.cc/NASA

## Caption

Eye see you… 👁

Back in 1996, NASAHubble revealed the hourglass shape of this young planetary nebula located about 8,000 light-years away. In previous images taken from the ground, the nebula looked like a pair of large outer rings with a smaller central one, but the finer details could not be seen.

Planetary nebulae are created by the death of Sun-like stars: the star collapses to form a dense and hot white dwarf star. At the same time, the dying star throws off its outer layers of material, forming an elaborate cloud of gas and dust known as a planetary nebula. This isn’t an uncommon phenomenon, and yet, this “eye” star is a little unique: it should be at the center of the nebula, but it’s off center.

Hubble also revealed other new and unexpected features in the nebula. For example, there is a pair of intersecting elliptical rings in the central region, which appear to be the rims of a smaller hourglass. There are also the intricate patterns of the etchings on the hourglass walls. There are a few possible explanations for the arc-like etchings – for instance, they could be the remnants of shells ejected from the star when it was younger.

This picture was composed of three separate images taken by Hubble’s Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 in the light of ionized nitrogen (represented by red), hydrogen (green), and doubly ionized oxygen (blue).

Image description: This nebula has an interesting appearance: what looks like a turquoise blue eye stares right at you from the center of a red-orange hourglass-like shape made from two interlocking circles – like a Venn diagram turned on its side. The circles each have arcs within them. The darkness of space forms the backdrop of this image.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team STScI/AURA

#NASA #Nebula #Eerie #Circles #Astronomy

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## Tags

nasa, nebula, circles, eerie, astronomy

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