Halos Around the Ring Nebula

Explanation: What's happened to the Ring Nebula? The familiar Ring that can be seen with a small back-yard telescope takes on a new look when viewed in dim light. The above recently-released, false-color image taken by the giant Subaru Telescope shows details of giant halos of diffuse gas that are seen to envelop the entire structure. The Ring Nebula , also known as M 57, is an elongated planetary nebula , a type of nebula that is created when a Sun-like star evolves to throw off its outer atmosphere and becomes a white dwarf . The Ring Nebula is about 2000 light-years away, and the main ring spans about one light-year. The origin and future evolution of the Ring Nebula 's outer halos is still being investigated.