Amazing Final Images Of Stars Right Before They Die
“As the star heats up to over 30,000 K, the surrounding ejecta become ionized, creating emission and reflection phenomena together.”
When a star like the Sun nears the end of its life, a few things are inevitable: nuclear fusion in its core will cease, the outer layers will be blown off, and a white dwarf and planetary nebula will be the result. But this process isn’t instantaneous, and a brief phase known as a preplanetary nebula is the bridge between a red giant star and this end stage. With hot gas blown off in a wind and a hot core from the hydrogen burning shell, these intricate objects may be visible for only 10,000 years, but are so numerous that we’ve discovered dozens of examples just in our little corner of the galaxy.
Go view a whole slew of them, and get more of their story, on today’s Mostly Mute Monday!
Pretty
Imported from Tumblr: http://ift.tt/1mGhOjK
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