Ant Nebula

From ground-based telescopes, the so-called "ant nebula" (Menzel 3, or Mz 3) resembles the head and thorax of a garden-variety ant. No other planetary nebula observed by Hubble resembles Mz 3 very closely. This dramatic Hubble Space Telescope image, showing 10 times more detail, reveals the "ant's" body as a pair of fiery lobes protruding from a dying, Sun-like star. The Hubble image directly challenges old ideas about the last stages in the lives of stars. By observing Sun-like stars as they approach their deaths, the Hubble image of Mz 3 — along with pictures of other planetary nebulae — shows that our Sun's fate probably will be more interesting, complex, and striking than astronomers once imagined.