Researchers have captured a breathtaking image of a giant dust cloud in outer space surrounding a scarlet star five times the mass of the Sun.
The Toby Jug Nebula looks, as its name suggests, is shaped like a jug with a handle, an European Souther Observatory (ESO) press release reported.
The nebula, which was captured by ESO's Very Large Telescope, is located about 1,200 lightyears away from Earth in the constellation commonly known as The Ship's Keel.
The nebula surrounds a red giant star called HD 65750, which is much older than Earth's Sun.
"The nebula was created by the star, which is losing part of its mass out into the surrounding space, forming a cloud of gas and dust as the material cools. The dust consists of elements such as carbon and simple, heat-resistant compounds such as titanium dioxide and calcium oxide (lime). In this case, detailed studies of the object in infrared light point to silicon dioxide (silica) being the most likely compound reflecting the star's light," the press release reported.
The Toby Jug Nebula is visible because HD 65750 gives off an eerie red light that is reflected off the dust particles.
"This celestial butterfly structure is almost symmetrical, and spans about one light-year. This phase of a star's life is short-lived and such objects are thus rare," the press release reported.
Red giants are stars that are in the final stage of their evolution and are on the brink of death. They have almost run out of hydrogen, which is essential to the star's chemical reactions.
Once the red giant's hydrogen reserves run low its atmosphere expands and it can sometimes "burn a shell of helium outside a carbon-oxygen core."
In a few billion years Earth's Sun will look similar to HD 65750.
"It is expected that the solar atmosphere will inflate well beyond the current orbit of Earth, engulfing all the inner planets in the process. By then, Earth will be already in very bad shape. The huge increase of radiation and the strong stellar winds that will accompany the process of stellar inflation will destroy all life on Earth and evaporate the water in the oceans, before the entire planet is finally melted," the press release reported.
