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This image of the planetary nebula ngc7027, shows
remarkable new details of the process of how a star like our Sun dies. New
features include faint blue concentric shells surrounding the nebula, an
extensive network of red dust clouds throughout the bright central region,
and the hot central white dwarf, visible as a white dot in the center. The
nebula is a record of the star's final death throes, showing the ejections
of the star's outer layers, when it was at the red giant stage of
evolution, which occurred at a low rate and was spherical. The Hubble
image reveals that the initial ejections occurred periodically and
produced the concentric shells. This accumulated, and vigorous ejections
of the remaining outer layers produced the bright inner regions. At this
later stage, the ejection was non-spherical and the dense clouds of dust
condensed from the ejected material.
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