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Beautiful Demise
Featured on February 8, 2020
The outer layers of a dying star have been ejected into space in this image from ALMA, a radio telescope array in Chile. The star, HD101584, puffed up to giant proportions as it neared the end of its life. That engulfed a smaller companion star, which spiraled inward. The companion star's motions kicked the giant star's outer layers into space, forming this colorful bubble of hot gas. Jets of hot gas shoot out from the poles of the giant star, forming streaks to the left and right of the nebula's center. [ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), Olofsson et al.]
