Astronomers may not have observed the fabled "Stairway to Heaven," but they have photographed something almost as intriguing: ladder-like structures surrounding a dying star. A new image, taken with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, reveals startling new details of one of the most unusual nebulae known in our Milky Way. Cataloged as HD 44179, this nebula is more commonly called the "Red Rectangle" because of its unique shape and color as seen with ground-based telescopes.
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Dying Star Sculpts Rungs of Gas and Dust
NASA Hubble Mission Team
Goddard Space Flight Center
Related Images & Videos
Dying Star HD 44179, the "Red Rectangle," Sculpts Rungs of Gas and Dust
Astronomers may not have observed the fabled "Stairway to Heaven," but they have photographed something almost as intriguing: ladder-like structures surrounding a dying star. A new image, taken with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, reveals startling new details of one of the most...
The Red Rectangle Nebula
This schematic illustrates the wide range of unique structures observed in this remarkable nebula. A thick dust disc obscures the starlight from the central binary star system. Constrained starlight passes into the bipolar nebula lobes, seen almost face-on. Multiple episodes of...
Red Rectangle Zoom Animation
An animated movement over the Red Rectangle showing the rung-type structures. Astronomers interpret the X-shaped structure as outflows of gas and dust from the star in the center. The star in the center of the Red Rectangle is one that began its life as a star similar to our...
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Last Updated
Mar 20, 2025
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Media
Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov
