Although this image looks like an underwater creature, it actually shows a dying star about 5,000 light-years away.

This #HubbleClassic frame shows a nebula called NGC 2002. When stars like our Sun near the end of their lives, they expand into red giants. They then begin to eject material into their surroundings, throwing their outer layers out into space.

Such a star can shed more than half its mass into space, forming a shell of gas around it. In the process, the star's core shrinks and heats up, emitting ultraviolet light and causing the expelled gas to glow brightly.

Image description:

A bright reddish point of light surrounded by shells of gas and dust. The inner ring of gas appears pale red, and surrounding it is a hazier ring of bluish cosmic material.

 

Image credits: ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. Wade