Carbon Star CW Leonis Dissolve Sequence

This is a time-lapse set of images of the aging red giant star CW Leonis, taken on three dates: 2001, 2011, and 2016. The star is embedded inside gossamer cobwebs of dust encircling the star. These are really shells of carbon dust blown off the star. As they expand into space they change shape, as seen between the Hubble Space Telescope exposures. Brilliant searchlight beams from the star's surface poke through the dust. These beams change orientation through the different dates the Hubble photographs were taken.