Messier 42 better known as the Orion Nebula, with the unaided eye from a dark sky site. This stellar relic, first spied by William Herschel in 1787, is nicknamed the Eskimo Nebula (NGC 2392) because, ...

is a striking example of a bipolar planetary nebula. The Hourglass Nebula: This is an image of MyCn18, a young planetary nebula located about 8,000 light-years away, taken with the Wide Field and ...

A ring of dust and gas orbiting the star acts as a belt, cinching the expanding nebula into an hourglass shape. See the full advent calendar here, where a new image will be revealed each day until ...

M2-9 is a striking example of a "butterfly" or a bipolar planetary nebula. Another more revealing name might be the "Twin Jet Nebula." If the nebula is sliced across the star, each side of it ...