A Tour of Messier 76

In celebration of the 34th anniversary of the launch of NASA's legendary Hubble Space Telescope on April 24, 1990, astronomers took a snapshot of the Little Dumbbell Nebula. Also known as Messier 76, M76, or NGC 650/651, it is composed of a ring, seen edge-on as the central bar structure, and two lobes on either opening of the ring.

The two mottled lobes of colorful glowing gases resemble a balloon that has been pinched in the middle. Both lobes are expanding into space from a dying star, which is the white dot in the center. Blistering ultraviolet radiation from the super-hot star is causing the gases to glow. The red color is from nitrogen and blue from oxygen.

Explore Messier 76 in this video tour.