Welcome to the official account for NASA's Hubble Space Telescope! The observatory and account are operated by @nasagoddard.
www.nasa.gov Instagram.comAbout 2,000 light-years away in the constellation Vela, the spectacular Southern Ring Nebula resides.
In this #HubbleClassic image, a dying star ejects a cloud of gas expanding outwards at nine miles per second.
If you look closely near the nebula’s center, there are actually two stars: a bright one, and a much fainter companion just above it to the right. That fainter star is the one ejecting this nebula! It’s smaller than our Sun, but extremely hot, and the flood of ultraviolet radiation from its surface makes the surrounding gases glow through fluorescence. The other brighter star is in an earlier stage of stellar evolution, but will probably eject its own nebula later on.
Image credits: The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA/NASA)
#NASA #Hubble #classic #stars #nebula #space #science #astronomy #universe
