Fact Sheet
Seeing Red
A dying star lights up clouds of dust around it in this Hubble Space Telescope image of the Red Rectangle Nebula. The old, bloated star began blowing its outer layers into space, one by one, about 14,000 years ago. Dust grains reflect light from the star, creating the nebula's layered appearance. Eventually, the star will lose all of its outer layers, exposing its hot core, which will cause vast clouds of gas around the star to glow like a neon bulb. [Credit: NASA/STSCI]
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