crookedindifference:

The Mark of a Dying Star

Six hundred and fifty light-years away in the constellation Aquarius, a dead star about the size of Earth, is refusing to fade away peacefully. In death, it is spewing out massive amounts of hot gas and intense ultraviolet radiation, creating a spectacular object called a “planetary nebula.” The composite picture is made up of visible data from Hubble and infrared data from Spitzer.