The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
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Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
Go to topicShrouds of gas surrounding dying, sunlike stars (called planetary nebulae) come in a variety of strange shapes, from an 'hourglass' to a 'butterfly' or 'stingray'. With this image of NGC 6210, another bizarre form can be added to the gallery of planetary nebulae: a turtle swallowing a seashell. Giving this dying star a weird name is less challenging than working out how dying stars create these unusual shapes.The remarkable features of this nebula are the numerous holes in the inner shells with jets of material streaming from them. These jets produce column-shaped features that are mirrored in the opposite direction. The multiple shells of material ejected by the dying star give this planetary nebula its odd form. In the 'full nebula' image, the brighter central region looks like a 'nautilus shell'; the fainter outer structure (colored red) a 'tortoise'.The dying star is the white dot in the centre.