The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has taken a picture of the planetary nebula Menzel 2, which is found in the southern constellation Norma.
This composite image shows the planetary nebula Menzel 2 as seen in visible and infrared light by Hubble’s WFPC2 camera. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / Serge Meunier.
Menzel 2 is named after its discoverer, the American astronomer and astrophysicist Donald Menzel, who published his findings in 1922.
Also known as PK 329-02.2, ESO 178-15 or Hen 2-150, the nebula is approximately 7,710 light-years distant.
In this image from Hubble’s Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2), Menzel 2 appears as a winding blue cloud that perfectly aligns with two stars at its center.
Astronomers have recently discovered that the star at the upper right is in fact Menzel 2’s central star.
The star to the lower left is probably a physical companion of the nebula’s central star.
For tens of thousands of years the stellar core will be cocooned in spectacular clouds of gas and then, over a period of a few thousand years, the gas will fade away into the depths of the Universe.
The curving structure of the planetary nebula resembles a last goodbye before the star reaches its final stage of retirement as a white dwarf.
Amateur astronomer Serge Meunier submitted a version of this image to the Hubble’s Hidden Treasures image processing competition.
