When a star runs out of fuel, it sheds its outer layers of gas and, if it doesn't explode in a supernova, forms a glowing shell of ionized gas that expands into space. Shells like these are known as ...

Planetary nebulae represent a brief, yet illuminating, phase in the evolution of low- to intermediate-mass stars. These glowing shells of ionised gas are shed in the late stages of stellar development ...

In their dying throes, some stars leave behind beautiful planetary nebulae — disk, spiral or even butterfly-shaped clouds of dust and gas (SN: 5/17/18). How these fantastically shaped clouds arise ...

A way of estimating more accurate distances to the thousands of so-called planetary nebulae dispersed across our galaxy has been announced. The announcement was made by a team of three astronomers ...

Something is amiss in the Butterfly Nebula. When astronomers compared two exposures of this planetary nebula that had been taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2009 and 2020, they saw dramatic ...

Astroimaging involves a profound irony. While the goal of photography is to capture light, the majority of what astrophotographers capture in their images is utter darkness. Oh sure, the intended ...

Planetary nebulae are the remnants of stars roughly one-to-eight times the size of the sun surrounded by hot gas lit up by ultraviolet radiation. Kastner hopes that through a comprehensive campaign of ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. An award-winning reporter writing about stargazing and the night sky. Each spring it becomes possible—for only a few short weeks, ...

Is Earth getting you down these days? Then take a break and look to the stars for a while. A pair of newly released images from the Hubble Space Telescope afford us Earthlings impressive views of two ...

Many good things come in threes: the Three Musketeers, the Three Tenors, movie and book trilogies, and more. There seems to be something symmetrical, beautiful, and satisfying when using the power of ...