NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope recently documented a rare event – the death of a low-mass star. The image of the Calabash Nebula shows the star transitioning from a red giant to a planetary nebula. During this transformation, the star expels its outer layers of gas and dust into space. The high-speed ejection of material in opposite directions is visible in the image, with the gas moving at speeds close to a million kilometers per hour. This phase of a star’s evolution is difficult to capture as it happens rapidly in astronomical terms. Over the next thousand years, the nebula is expected to develop further into a full-fledged planetary nebula.
Original Source: NASA