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PIX4623330: Planetary nebula M57 (NGC 6720) in Lyra - The Ring nebula M57 in Lyra - The planetary nebula of Lyra (M57) is located about 2000 years - light from Earth. A planetary nebula is a gas shell from a small late-life star whose heart collapsed to become a white dwarf and expelled the outer layers of its matter. Image obtained by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The Hubble Space Telescope has captured the sharpest view yet of M57, the Ring Nebula in Lyra, which is the most famous of all planetary nebulae. In this image, the telescope has looked down a tunnel of gas cast off by a dying star thousands of years ago. This photo reveals elongated dark clumps of material embedded in the gas at the edge of the nebula, and the dying central star floating in a blue haze of hot gas. The nebula is about a light - year in diameter, and is located some 2,000 light - years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Lyra / Bridgeman Images
PIX4621162: Dark nebula and globular cluster NGC 4372 - Dark nebula and globular cluster NGC 4372 - HMSTG 436 is a molecular cloud visible near the globular cluster NGC 4372 (on the right, above the bright star Gamma Musca) in the southern constellation of the Fly. HMSTG 436 is a linear molecular cloud in the southern constellation Musca, the fly. It is easily found by targeting the globular cluster NGC 4372, visible at right, above the bright star gamma Musca / Bridgeman Images
PIX4622764: Cocon Nebula (IC 5146) in the Swan - Cocoon Nebula IC5146 - The Cocon Nebula, IC 5146, is an emission nebula located about 4000 years from Earth in the constellation of Swan. This star-forming region is illuminated by massive young stars. This complex mass of molecular hydrogen and dust, located 4,000 light years from earth, glows red by emitting light, shines blue by reflecting light and exhibits a pattern of dark lanes that result when dust absorbs light. Much of the light seen in the main part of this nebula is generated by the massive bright star near it's center. The Cocoon is a stellar nursery containing a relatively young open cluster of stars with several individual constituents that are newly formed / Bridgeman Images