Living in the constellation Cygnus, Abell 78 is a planetary nebula with bright zones in the center and an extended outer halo. The outdoor hello is mostly made up of Hydrogen. The clear inner elliptical ring is made up mainly of Helium.
Recently, astronomers captured stunning images of the Abell 78, aka ACO 78, PK 081-14.1, and ARO 174, using NASA / ESA’s Hubble Space Telescope and the 1.8-m Pan-STARRS1 telescope. Located nearly 5,000 light-years away, this planetary nebula is 2.8 light-years across.
After the nuclear fuel has run out at the heart of the matter, there are stars with a mass of about 0.8 to eight times the mass of the sun to form thick warm white stars. Through this process, the dying star throws out its outer layers of material, creating a complex cloud of gas and dust called a planetary nebula.
Planetary nebulae often attract the attention of astronauts because of their beauty and intricate shapes. However, some like Abell 78 are the result of a star called “again”.
While the star’s heart has stopped burning Hydrogen and Helium, a thermonuclear surface on its surface emits the material at high speed. This ejecta shakes and sweeps up the old material of the nebula, removing the filaments and the irregular shell around the star in the center seen in this image, which contains data from Hubble’s Camera 3 and Panoramic Monitoring Telescope and Rapid Response System.