This colorful cosmic confection is a planetary nebula known as the “Little Jewel Nebula”. Located about 6,000 light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius, the interesting shape of this fascinating structure is directly linked to its formation process.

When Sun-like stars reach the final stages of their lives, they eject their outer layers into space, forming bright clouds of gas called planetary nebulae. Because this mass ejection is not regular, planetary nebulae can have extremely complex and varied shapes. The Little Jewel Nebula has a form with more diffuse, filament-like structures that wrap around a dense and bright inner bubble.

Scientists think that this elongated shape of the nebula is shaped by strong stellar winds emanating from the central star. Moving rapidly outward, these winds collide with the more slowly expanding gas cloud, creating bright explosions, especially in the outer layers of the bubble.

Image description:

The Little Jewel Nebula looks like two blue and purple cloudy bubbles with bright red streaks in the center and on the outer edges. There is a bright spot near the center of the nebula. The rest of the image is black.

 

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, Thank you: Judy Schmidt

What do you think will happen if he explodes like a chewing gum?