Dying star known as the Southern Owl Nebula is captured glowing in its death throes

Dying star known as the Southern Owl Nebula is captured glowing in its death throes


Our sun's fate pictured: Dying star known as the Southern Owl Nebula is captured glowing in its death throes
This is the best image yet of the little known object known as ESO 378-1
The object is four light years across and is in the constellation of Hydra
Planetary nebulae like this are actually ancient stars in their death throes
Offers a glimpse into the future of our own sun which will one day become a planetary nebula before spending its twilight years as a white dwarf.

The ghostly remains of a dying star seems to float like a jellyfish, shimmering in the haunting darkness of deep space.
It may look like something supernatural, but the image in fact a planetary nebula nicknamed the Southern Owl Nebula.
This ethereal object offers a glimpse into the future of our own sun, which will one day finish its life as a planetary nebula before spending its twilight years as a white dwarf.

This is the best image yet of the little known object ESO 378-1, captured by the European Southern Observatory's (Eso) Very Large Telescope in Chile.
The object is almost four light years across and is located in the constellation of Hydra, and its informal name relates to a similar object in the skies of the northern hemisphere known as the Owl Nebula.
Planetary nebulae last just a few tens of thousands of years - a mere blink of an eye in the lifetime of a star.


While their name sounds like they have something to do with the formation of planets, planetary nebulae are actually ancient stars in their death throes, and get their name from their superficial resemblance to planets when observed through a telescope.
Nebulae like this are formed when an ageing star ejects gas far into space around them, but fade as the gas moves outward and the dying star in the centre fades.
For a planetary nebula to form, the star at the centre must have a mass of less than eight times that of our sun.


Heavier stars with more matter than this end their lives in brilliant and often dramatic supernova explosions.
As these less massive stars grow old they slowly lose their outer layers of gas to stellar winds, which consists of matter ejected from stars.
After the outer layers have been dissipated, the hot stellar core starts to emit ultraviolet radiation which ionises the surrounding gas.