At about 200 light-years away, L2 Puppis is one of the closest red giants to Earth known to be entering its final stages of life. Recent detailed obse
At about 200 light-years away, L2 Puppis is one of the closest red giants to Earth known to be entering its final stages of life. Recent detailed observations revealed what appears to be an ageing star giving birth to a butterfly-like planetary nebula. The astronomers found a dust disc surrounding the star, and also observed a second source of light about 300 million kilometres from L2 Puppis. This very close companion star is likely to be another red giant of slightly lower mass, but less evolved. The combination of a large amount of dust surrounding a slowly dying star, along with the presence of a companion star, mean that this is exactly the type of system expected to create a bipolar planetary nebula. This image was created from photographic material taken with the UK Schmidt Telescope at Anglo-Australian Observatory, forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2.
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Photo credit: © DAVIDE DE MARTIN/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
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Keywords: astronomical, astronomy, astrophysical, astrophysics, butterfly-, camera, cluster, dark, disc, dust, emission, evolution, giant, hii, l2, nebula, planetary, pup, puppis, red, reflection, region, schmidt, space, star, telescope, uk
