• A set of four images of a planetary nebula, which is a blue, purple, pink, and yellow celestial body.
    Download Image

    At the end of its life, the Sun will bloat into a red giant, and its outer layers will drift away to create a glowing planetary nebula like these examples.  This gallery of planetary nebula is a set of composite images by two NASA space telescopes.

    The image from the Chandra X-ray Observatory is shown in purple, and traces shock waves within the nebula.  The red, green, and blue detailed images are from the Hubble Space Telescope.

    Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/RIT/J.Kastner et al.; Optical: NASA/STScI

  • A set of four images of a planetary nebula, which is a blue, purple, pink, and yellow celestial body.

ID#:

WEB14758-2015

Source:

NASA

Owner:

Smithsonian Institution

Rights Usage:

Contact Smithsonian Institution

Terms of Use:

Smithsonian Terms of Use

For print or commercial use please see permissions information.