Space Swoon: Hubble Captures The Fiery Death Of A Star
This star, this star is definitely going out way cooler than I will. I mean, either I fall down the stairs, or blow a brain gasket from trying to grind out a constipated turd. This star, this star though. Awesome.
The Calabash Nebula (or OH 231.8+04.2 for those of you inclined to respect the technical name of stars) is on its final journey to Valhalla. In a rarely observed astronomical event, the Hubble Space Telescope witnessed the red giant expel its outer layers of gas and dust into space, becoming a planetary nebula. NASA and the ESA (European Space Agency) released the image. In it, the yellow gasses hit speeds of 621,371 miles per hour as they left the dying star.
Thankfully this took place about 5,000 light-years away. The nebula, known casually as the “Rotten Egg Nebula” because of its heavy concentration of sulfur sits in the constellation of Puppis. Needless to say, there are some sulfur related jokes to be made.
Additionally, if you really want to get after that sweet, sweet gutter humor the constellation Puppis symbolizes the poop deck part of the larger constellation Argo Navis. Two other parts, Carina (keel and hull) and Vela (the sails) make up the entire constellation named after the ship of Jason and the Argonauts.
This space explosion happened within the blink of an eye, but that eye was on the Hubble and aimed at the nebula. It’s just another amazing space occurrence that reminds us that we are but specks in an unimaginably vast universe.