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Collection:
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NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day Collection
Collection
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day Collection
Collection
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Title:
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NGC 2440: Cocoon of a New White Dwarf
Title
NGC 2440: Cocoon of a New White Dwarf
Title
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Explanation:
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Like a butterfly, a white dwarf star begins its life by casting off a cocoon that enclosed its former self. In this analogy, however, the Sun would be a caterpillar and the ejected shell of gas would become the prettiest of all! The above cocoon, the planetary nebula designated NGC 2440, contains one of the hottest white dwarf stars known. The white dwarf [ http://www.sciencen…] can be seen as the bright dot near the photo's center. Our Sun will eventually become a "white dwarf butterfly", but not for another 5 billion years. The above false color image [ http://presto.stsci…] and was post-processed by Forrest Hamilton [ http://heritage.sts…].
Explanation
Like a butterfly, a white dwarf star begins its life by casting off a cocoon that enclosed its former self. In this analogy, however, the Sun would be a caterpillar and the ejected shell of gas would become the prettiest of all! The above cocoon, the planetary nebula designated NGC 2440, contains one of the hottest white dwarf stars known. The white dwarf [ http://www.sciencen…] can be seen as the bright dot near the photo's center. Our Sun will eventually become a "white dwarf butterfly", but not for another 5 billion years. The above false color image [ http://presto.stsci…] and was post-processed by Forrest Hamilton [ http://heritage.sts…]. Explanation
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Credit and Copyright:
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Credit_and_Copyright
Credit and Copyright
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keyword:
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planetary nebula
keyword
planetary nebula
keyword
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keyword:
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white dwarf
keyword
white dwarf
keyword
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keyword:
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NGC 2440
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facet_where:
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Hamilton
facet_where
Hamilton
facet_where
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facet_where:
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Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)
facet_where
Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)
facet_where
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facet_what:
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Sun
facet_what
Sun
facet_what
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facet_what:
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dwarf
facet_what
dwarf
facet_what
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facet_what:
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white dwarf
facet_what
white dwarf
facet_what
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facet_what:
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Hubble Space Telescope (HST)
facet_what
Hubble Space Telescope (HST)
facet_what
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facet_what:
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New General Catalogue (NGC)
facet_what
New General Catalogue (NGC)
facet_what
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original url:
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original_url
original url
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UID:
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SPD-APOD-ap010805
UID
SPD-APOD-ap010805
UID
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