Capture the cosmos > Stellar evolution > Tales of: End of stellar life

Tales of ... The glorious end of stellar life See image below

Garden-variety stars like our sun live undistinguished lives in their galactic neighborhoods, churning out heat and light for billions of years. When these stars reach retirement age, however, they become unique works of art.

As ordinary, sun-like stars begin their 30,000-year journey into their twilight years, they swell and glow, shrugging off their gaseous layers until only their small, hot cores remain. The ejected gaseous layers are called planetary nebulae, so named in the 18th century because, through small telescopes, these gas clouds had round shapes similar to distant planets such as Uranus or Neptune. (Continued >>)

A glowing gallery of planetary nebulae

Capture the cosmos > Stellar evolution > Tales of: End of stellar life