Hubble hasphotographedone of the most famous nebulae in the southerly sky , NGC 3918 . The anatomical structure , with its   trenchant   centre - similar physical body , is a brilliant cloud of colorful gas concealing inside a die ace . NGC 3918 is site 4,900 tripping - years from Earth in the configuration of Centaurus .

The object is a world nebula . Despite the misnomer , the nebula is not about planets , its all about its central star and the textile it has exhaust over the last few thousand years . The star is an onetime red giant . It has n’t got enough volume to go supernova , so its last hurrah is to eject as much of its other layer as possible before it emerges as a lily-white dwarf . The layers of material are showered in a powerful ultraviolet illumination light , which establish them radiate . The clouds of NGC 3918 well outshine the central star .

The shape of planetary nebula is also an interesting content . NGC 3918 see like a pierce celestial eye . It has a bright intimate shell and a   more diffuse outer shell . It might at first seem like these were two different ejection but scientist have confirm that they form at the same clip . They were simply have out at different speeds . Some of the spurt of fabric shot by the hotshot move at the stupefying fastness of 350,000 kilometer ( 217,500 miles ) per hour .

The mechanism that shapes these nebulae is little understood . It is partly due to the properties of the champion or wiz at the nub , but also the stellar winds and magnetised field of view act a role . The Hubble Space Telescope observations have been key to furthering our sympathy . The term planetary nebula was used because they count around - ish , like a planet , in the earliest observations . Hubble show that there is a smorgasbord of morphologies out there , some actually quite complex .

Planetary nebulae are abruptly - lived phenomenon lasting at most a few tenner of one thousand of years . Although a blink in term of a stellar - life , these nebulae say us about the progenitor star and their death . They might also play an authoritative role in enrich interstellar gas . The fabric thrown in the gaseous state shell often contains heavier factor that might then be used to form planets .

Planetary nebulae also give us a glance into the distant futurity : It may be how our Sunwill end .