Rings Around the Ring Nebula

Rings Around the Ring Nebula

Image Credit:
Hubble,
Large Binocular Telescope,
Subaru Telescope;
Composition & Copyright:
Robert Gendler

Explanation:
The
Ring Nebula (M57)
is more complicated than it appears through a small telescope.

The easily visible
central ring is about one
light-year across,
but this remarkably deep exposure – a
collaborative effort combining data from
three different large telescopes –
explores
the looping filaments of glowing gas extending much farther from
the nebula‘s central star.

This
composite image includes red light emitted by hydrogen as well as
visible and infrared light.

The Ring Nebula is an elongated
planetary nebula, a type of nebula created when a
Sun-like star evolves to
throw off its outer atmosphere and become a
white dwarf star.

The Ring Nebula is about 2,500 light-years away toward the musical
constellation
Lyra.