clipped from: www.popsci.com 
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Courtesy NASA/Hubblesite.org The Cat's Eye Nebula, one of the first planetary nebulae discovered, also has one of the most complex forms known to this kind of nebula. Eleven rings, or shells, of gas make up the Cat's Eye. |
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Courtesy NASA/Hubblesite.org A billowing tower of gas and dust rises from the stellar nursery known as the Eagle Nebula. This small piece of the Eagle Nebula is 57 trillion miles long. |
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Courtesy NASA/Hubblesite.org Radiation from hot stars [top] illuminates and erodes this giant, gaseous pillar. Additional ultraviolet radiation causes the gas to glow, giving the pillar its red halo of light. |
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Courtesy NASA/Hubblesite.org Intricate structures of concentric gas shells, jets of high-speed gas and shock-induced knots of gas make up this complicated planetary nebula. The Cat's Eye Nebula, which is about 1,000 years old, could have resulted from a double-star system. |
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Courtesy NASA/Hubblesite.org When a massive star exploded, spewing out its gaseous layers into a turbulent, star-forming region of the Large Magellanic Cloud, it left behind this chaotic cloud of gas and dust. The star that produced this supernova remnant was probably 50 times the mass of our sun. |
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Courtesy NASA/Hubblesite.org This detailed picture of the Helix Nebula shows a fine web of filaments, like the spokes of a bicycle, embedded in the colorful red-and-blue gas ring around this dying star. The Helix Nebula is one of the nearest planetary nebulae to Earth, only 650 light-years away. |
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Courtesy NASA/Hubblesite.org Clouds of dust and gas in the Orion Nebula churn out stars in this tiny section of the huge Orion Nebula. The gas is illuminated and heated by ultraviolet light from four hot, massive stars. |
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Courtesy NASA/Hubblesite.org An onion-skin-like structure of concentric dust shells surrounds a central, aging star. Twin beams of light radiate from the star and illuminate the usually invisible dust. Here, artificial colors show how light reflects off the particles and heads toward Earth. |