January 19, 1998
Long before your first heartbeat, stars were busy forging the elements you would one day call your own.
The Hubble 5 Planetary Nebula
Birthday · January 19, 1998
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APOD published January 19, 1998. Full image credits are on the original APOD entry below. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
The Hubble Double Bubble Planetary Nebula is bubbling over with excitement. More mundanely known as Hubble 5, this bipolar planetary nebula is being created by a hot wind of particles streaming away from the central star system. The hot gas expands into the surrounding interstellar medium in a fashion similar to the inflation of hot air balloons. A supersonic shock-wave can form at the boundary, causing newly excited gas there to shine as electrons recombine with resident elements. In the above picture, colors are assigned according to the energy of the recombinant radiation. This star system lies about 2200 light-years from Earth, and likely includes a Sun-like star slowly transforming itself into a white dwarf.