Hubble image captures the death of a star [View all]

[TexasTowelie]

The yellow gas in the image is streaming away from the dying stellar core at speeds upwards of 621,371 miles per hour. Photo by Hubble/NASA/ESA

Feb. 3 (UPI) -- A new image from the Hubble Space Telescope displays the beauty of a stellar death -- in this case, the death of a low-mass star, similar to our sun in size.

Once a red giant, the star is currently in a transitionary phase: It's on its way to becoming a planetary nebula. The Hubble image reveals the star's layers of gas and dust being shed and thrown outward. The expelled material, now forming clouds, could eventually form new stars and planets.

Astronomers rarely catch dying red giants in their transitionary phase. It will only be a few thousand years before the star is a pure planetary nebula -- a blip in space time.

By then, the spent stellar material will have slowed down and taken on more convoluted shapes. As the Hubble shows, the streams of gas are still energy filled and direct. The waves of yellow gas seen in the image are traveling at speeds of 621,371 miles per hour.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2017/02/03/Hubble-image-captures-the-death-of-a-star/9241486153339/