Skinny Corpse

A dying star surrounds itself with a thin bubble of gas in this recent image from the European Southern Observatory. ESO 577-24 is about 1,400 light-years from Earth. It consists of the bright central star, which is evolving to become a white dwarf, surrounded by an expanding shell of gas, which is the remnant of the star's outer layers. Over time, the shell will expand and cool enough that it will no longer be visible. Many galaxies are visible through the nebula, as is an asteroid in our own solar system, which forms a faint dotted line to the lower left of center. [ESO]