The hour-glass figure of this planetary nebula is ironic -considering how brief this stage in the star's life will last. With the nuclear fuel exhausted, the star is ejecting its outer layers as its core cools to a white dwarf. The "red" of the gas is digitally created to represent nitrogen, the "green" is hydrogen, and the "blue" is oxygen. The clear imaging of the nebula ejection process is helping to solve mysteries of the complexity of planetary nebulas.
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