February 15, 1997
In the time it took you to read this, the Earth moved another thousand miles through space. You are not standing still. You never have been.
Shapley 1: An Annular Planetary Nebula Credit and Copyright:
Birthday · February 15, 1997
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APOD published February 15, 1997. Full image credits are on the original APOD entry below. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
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Shapley 1: An Annular Planetary Nebula Credit and Copyright:
Original APOD · February 15, 1997 ↗What happens when a star runs out of nuclear fuel? The center condenses into a white dwarf while the outer atmospheric layers are expelled into space and appear as a planetary nebula. This particular planetary nebula, designated Shapley 1 after the famous astronomer Harlow Shapley, has a very apparent annular ring like structure. Although some of these nebula appear like planets on the sky (hence their name), they actually surround stars far outside our Solar System.