The Hubble Space Telescope took another stunning picture. This time, his gaze turned to a nebula with a very spectacular appearance, but slightly unethical name 'Rotten Egg'.
The nebula, codenamed OH 231.8 + 04.2, is a prime example of the death of a low-mass star like our Sun. Hubble showed the star as it rapidly transforms from a red giant into a planetary nebula, a process by which the star ejects its outer layers of gas and dust into the surrounding space. The ejected material flows out in opposite directions at a tremendous speed – about one million kilometers per hour.
Astronomers rarely manage to get pictures of such stars in this phase of evolution, since, by cosmic standards, this happens in the blink of an eye. Over the next thousand years, this formation is expected to turn into a full-fledged planetary nebula.
The nebula got its uncommon name 'Rotten Egg' because of the large abundance of sulfur in it, an element that, in combination with other chemical elements, can recreate the smell of rotten eggs. But, as astronomers joke, this nebula is more than 5,000 light years away, so earthlings may not be afraid of an unpleasant smell.
Sources: NASA
