Science
Space photo of the week: A cosmic butterfly emerges from a star's violent death
What it is: Kohoutek 3-46, a planetary nebula.
Where it is: 7,200 light-years distant in the constellation Cygnus.
When it was shared: July 24, 2024.
Why it's so special:
Death comes violently for massive stars. As they burn through their fuel and begin to cool, pressure drops and gravity takes control. A core collapse can follow, causing a bright supernova explosion.
However, that's not how all stars end their lives. When a smaller star about one to eight times the size of the sun exhausts its fuel, it expands into a cool red giant star. Eventually, it expels its outer layers of atmosphere. Those layers can glow for thousands of years in beautiful colors and shapes, illuminated by light from the star's leftover core, also called a white dwarf.
Related: Space photo of the week: Ring Nebula glistens like a jelly-filled doughnut in Webb telescope's latest images
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