... Science User Portal . ... ESO, the European Southern Observatory . ... Travel and Contacts . ... Travel to E-ELT Armazones . ... Survey Telescopes . ... Star Clusters . ... Stars@ESO . ... This extraordinary bubble, glowing like the ghost of a star in the haunting darkness of space, may appear supernatural and mysterious, but it is a familiar astronomical object: a planetary nebula, the remnants of a dying star. ... Planetary nebulae are created by the ejected and expanding gas of dying stars. ...