WWW.ASTRONOMY.COM 9
A STAR’S
DEATH
GASPS
This ghostly
nebula previews
our Sun’s fate
The Hubble Space Telescope
has imaged the remnants of a
dying star in the constellation
Gemini the Twins several
times. Because of its unique bi-
lobed appearance, astronomers
once thought the fading system,
designated NGC 2371/2, was
two distinct objects. This is
because the planetary nebula
— an expanding shell of gas
created when a red giant star
sheds its outer layers — has
a symmetrical structure that
made it look like two dying
suns, instead of just one.
As the outer layers expand
into space, the star’s smolder-
ing core remains behind,
energizing the surrounding
gas. NGC 2371/2 is an evolving
system, with bright knots of gas
and jets of material that change
from one observation to the
next. Eventually, though, these
changes will slow as the gas
dissipates and the cooling core
forms a white dwarf, which will
grow dimmer over time. This
is the same fate astronomers
expect to befall our own Sun,
which will evolve into a similar
cosmic masterpiece in a few bil-
lion years. — HAILEY ROSE MCLAUGHLIN,
JAKE PARKSNEW TECH
Turbulence in Earth’s
atmosphere can turn
crisp images of the
cosmos blurry. The
University of Hawai‘i’s
2.2-meter telescope
will be first on Mauna
Kea with a bendable
secondary mirror to
reduce this effect.ROLLING STONE
NASA’s InSight mission
team has named a golf
ball-sized martian rock
“Rolling Stones Rock,”
after the famous band.
The team believes
the rock was pushed
about 3 feet (1 m) by the
spacecraft’s thrusters
during landing.GALACTICA INCOGNITA
From Earth, much of
the Milky Way’s far
side is obscured by
the crowded galactic
center. A new study of
more than 1,000 variable
stars in this hard-to-
see region is helping
astronomers chart our
galaxy’s structure.HOT
BYTESSNAPSHOT
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