Dramatic
41. Ring Nebula
This image shows the dramatic shape and colour 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,
new observations combining existing ground-based data with new 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)