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Credit & Copyright: H. Bond (STScI),
R. Ciardullo (PSU),
WFPC2,
HST,
NASA;
Processing: Forrest Hamilton
Explanation:
Like a pearl, a white dwarf star shines best after being
freed from its
shell.
In this analogy, however, the Sun would be a mollusk and its discarded hull would shine prettiest of all!
In the above shell of gas and dust, the
planetary nebula designated
NGC 2440, contains one of the
hottest white dwarf stars known.
The glowing stellar pearl can be seen as the bright dot near the image center.
The portion of
NGC 2440 shown spans about one light year.
The center of
our Sun will eventually become a
white dwarf, but
not for another five billion years.
The above false color image
was captured by the
Hubble
Space Telescope in 1995.
NGC 2440 lies about 4,000
light
years distant toward the southern
constellation Puppis.
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NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: NGC 2440 - white dwarf - planetary nebula
Publications with words: NGC 2440 - white dwarf - planetary nebula
See also: