Astronomy Picture of the Week – NGC 2346 Planetary Nebula

NGC 2346 is a planetary nebula which is ejected from Sun-like stars which are near the ends of their lives. It is remarkable because its central star is a very close pair of stars, orbiting each other every 16 days. The nebula lies about 2,000 light-years away from us, and is about one-third of a light-year in size.

Image Credit: NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI).