Dying Star's Temper Tantrum A dying star is throwing a cosmic
tantrum in this combined image from NASA's Spitzer Space
Telescope and the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX), which NASA
has lent to the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
In death, the star's dusty outer layers are unraveling into
space, glowing from the intense ultraviolet radiation being
pumped out by the hot stellar core. This object, called the
Helix nebula, lies 650 light-years away, in the constellation of
Aquarius. Also known by the catalog number NGC 7293, it is a
typical example of a class of objects called planetary nebulae.
Discovered in the 18th century, these cosmic works of art were
erroneously named for their resemblance to gas-giant planets.
Planetary nebulae are actually the remains of stars that once
looked a lot like our sun. These stars spend most of their lives
turning hydrogen into helium in massive runaway nuclear fusion
reactions in their cores. In fact, this process of fusion
provides all the light and heat th