The Helix Nebula: Bigger in death than life
Thursday, October 4, 2012 - 11:33
in Astronomy & Space
A dying star is refusing to go quietly into the night, as seen in a combined infrared and ultraviolet view from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX), which NASA has lent to the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. In death, the star's dusty outer layers are unraveling into space, glowing from the intense ultraviolet radiation being pumped out by the hot stellar core.