Astronomy Picture Of The Day: The iconic Ring Nebula (Messier 57 / M57 / NGC 6720)

 

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Here are some breathtaking high-resolution views of the iconic Ring Nebula (Messier 57 / M57 / NGC 6720) — one of the most famous and beautiful planetary nebulae in the night sky, located about 2,500 light-years away in the constellation Lyra.Formed from the outer layers ejected by a dying Sun-like star, now a faint white dwarf at its center, the nebula glows vividly under intense UV radiation. What appears as a simple smoke-ring or doughnut from our edge-on perspective is actually a more intricate 3D structure: a dense toroidal (doughnut-shaped) inner ring surrounded by a prolate spheroid (football-like) envelope of lower-density gas, with radial filaments and knots adding complexity.The vibrant colors reveal its chemistry: blue from hot helium, green from doubly ionized oxygen (O III), and red from cooler hydrogen and nitrogen. These composites blend data from Hubble, JWST, ground-based telescopes like Subaru and the Large Binocular Telescope, and masterful processing (including by Robert Gendler) to unveil details invisible to the naked eye.A true jewel of the cosmos and a preview of our Sun's distant future in about 5 billion years! Credit: NASA/ESA/Hubble, JWST, Subaru Telescope, Large Binocular Telescope, Robert Gendler, and collaborators