With this image of Nebula Kohoutek 4-55, Hubble's camera says goodbye
Posted 05.11.2009 at 9:48 am
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Planetary Nebula K 4-55
NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage team (See it bigger!)
After almost 16 years, the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 onboard the Hubble Space Telescope is being decommissioned. This image is its commemorative "final pretty picture."
The photograph (see it bigger!) is of the planetary nebula Kohoutek 4-55, in the constellation Cygnus, some 4,600 light years away. Layers of gas ejected by a dying red giant are ionized by radiation from the star's core, which causes them to glow.
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from Londonderry, NH
That nebula looks suspiciously like the "Eye of Jupiter" from Battlestar Galactica...
That is amazing! It kind of looks like a goldfish or something.