The Ring Nebula | Hubble

The Ring Nebula | Hubble

This Hubble Space Telescope image shows the dramatic shape and color of the Ring Nebula, otherwise known as Messier 57. From Earth’s perspective, the nebula looks like a simple elliptical shape with a shaggy boundary. However, updated observations combining existing ground-based data with NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope data show that the nebula is shaped like a distorted doughnut. This doughnut has a rugby-ball-shaped region of lower-density material slotted into in its central “gap”, stretching towards and away from us.

Credit: NASA, ESA, and C. Robert O’Dell (Vanderbilt University)

Release Date: May 23, 2013

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