Using the Very Large Telescope (VLT) of the European Southern Observatory (ESO), astronomers took a snapshot of a shell of glowing ionized gas, the last breath of a dying star, the rest of which is hidden in its center. As the gas cloud that makes up the planetary nebula expands rapidly and dims, its faint ephemeral glow will be visible in the sky for about 10,000 years – an instant by astronomical standards.
The planetary nebula, known as ESO 577-24, is the remnant of an evolved star that dropped its outer layers into space and “transformed” into a small and very hot dwarf star. Now this dwarf will gradually cool and dim, turning into the ghost of the former red giant.
ESO 577-24 was discovered in the 1950s with the tools of the Palomar Observatory (USA) and in 1966 it was listed in the Abella Catalog of Planetary Nebulae. Since ESO 577-24 is about 1400 light-years away from Earth, its ghostly glow can only be seen with a powerful telescope.
The image of ESO 577-24 was obtained as part of the ESO Cosmic Treasures program, an educational initiative consisting in taking pictures of mysterious or simply beautiful objects for educational and public educational purposes. The program runs at times when telescopes cannot conduct scientific observations for various reasons. However, all the data obtained can be used for scientific purposes and is available to astronomers through the ESO archive.
Last breath of a dying star on photo
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