This weeks picture features M 57, a very beautiful nebula, theorized to barrel shaped but from earth appearing to be near perfect ring shape. This picture is a planetary nebula that has expanded well beyond the area that would be considered the solar system and the picture is a composite image of Hubble and ground based telescope pictures. they believe that the star that once was in the center was like our sun but since expanding it has energized the area around in space around the dead star. 200 light years away, the center ring is a mere 1 light year across. Overall, this looks like the average planetary nebula.
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120420.html
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