The sands of time are running out for the central star of this the Hourglass Nebula. With its nuclear fuel exhausted, this brief, spectacular, closing phase of a sun-like star's life occurs as its outer layers are ejected and its core becomes a cooling, fading white dwarf. In 1995, astronomers used the Hubble Space Telescope to make a series of images of planetary nebulae, including the one above. Here, delicate rings of colorful glowing gas (nitrogen-red, hydrogen-green, and oxygen-blue) outline the tenuous walls of the 'hourglass.' The unprecedented sharpness of Hubble's images revealed surprising details of the nebula ejection process and may resolve the outstanding mystery of the variety of complex shapes and symmetries of planetary nebulae. Image Credit: NASA, WFPC2, HST, R. Sahai and J. Trauger (JPL) Read More
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Simpson Quote
“ Just where do you think you are going, missy?(Lisa ascending into heaven)
haba wolla!
Comment by Barbara — 17. September 2009 @ 09:00
…….den hätte ich auch gern !
Comment by Rike — 19. September 2009 @ 21:03
naja, ob des wirchklich so ne gute idee war??
….. kenn da jemand der schon flucht.. 
Comment by ThomasD — 15. October 2009 @ 08:35
:-)) tja, damals war’s ja auch noch Luftdicht eingeschweißt. Würde ich auch sofort wieder machen, wenn ich so ein Gerät hätte :-))
Comment by mk — 15. October 2009 @ 08:57