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Portrait of a Dying Star

Portrait of a dying star

The Bug Nebula, NGC 6302, is one of the brightest and most extreme planetary nebulae known. A blanket of icy hailstones at its center shrouds the fiery, dying star.

This image, taken by the NASA Hubble Wide Field Planetary Camera 2, shows impressive walls of compressed gas, laced with trailing strands and bubbling outflows.

Image credit: NASA, ESA and A. Zijlstra (UMIST, Manchester, UK)

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Last Updated
Apr 17, 2023
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NASA Hubble Mission Team

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