February 9, 1996
On the day you were born, another consciousness opened inside the cosmos and began taking notes.
The Eye of an Hourglass Nebula
Birthday · February 9, 1996
A little universe, just for you
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APOD published February 9, 1996. Full image credits are on the original APOD entry below. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
What's happening in the eye-like center of this planetary nebula? The geometry revealed in this Hubble Space Telescope view of the central part of an "etched hourglass nebula" known as MyCn 18 presents a puzzle. First, the axis of this central region does not line up well with the outer hourglass structure. Next, the hot star (the white spot to the left of center) which ejected this gaseous nebula as it evolved towards its white dwarf phase, is not exactly at the center of the "eye". These unexpected results leave astronomers looking for the missing pieces of the ejection process that created this unusual and beautiful structure.