Space photo of the week: Little Dumbbell Nebula throws a wild party for Hubble telescope's 34th anniversary

What it is: The Little Dumbbell Nebula (also known as Messier 76, M76, NGC 650/651, the Cork Nebula and the Barbell Nebula), a planetary nebula

Where it is: 3,400 light-years away, in the constellation Perseus

When it was shared: April 23, 2024

Why it's so special: This is a new image of the Little Dumbbell Nebula (M76), a planetary nebula that's a popular target for telescopes in summer in the Northern Hemisphere.

Issued to mark the 34th anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope's launch, which occurred on April 24, 1990, the image comes from the newest data in an archive of 184 terabytes stored at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore.

The Little Dumbbell Nebula is a planetary nebula, which, contrary to what the name suggests, is not the remains of a planet. Rather, it's an expanding shell of gas and dust ejected from a red giant star as it collapsed into a dense, hot white dwarf star. (The shell’s bright, round shape may have been reminiscent of a planet when viewed through early telescopes.)

Related: Speck of light spotted by Hubble is one of the most enormous galaxies in the early universe, James Webb telescope reveals