A Fleeting Moment in Time
ESO's Very Large Telescope has captured the last breath of a dying star.
The ghostly shell of the planetary nebula ESO 577-24 surrounds the simmering remains of a red giant star...
...living out its twilight years as a small but dense dwarf star
Once it began to exhaust its hydrogen reserves, the vast red giant contracted...
...causing its core to reignite under the immense pressure and eject its outer layers into the void.
Intense radiation from the core ionised these ejected layers, making them glow.
As this evanescent shell expands, it will grow dimmer, slowly becoming invisible.