In today's image, we see an example of a planetary nebula perhaps seen in the shape of an hourglass. A planetary nebula is what forms at the end of the life of a star much like our own Sun. The outer layers are expelled out to form a planetary nebula while the core collapses down to become a super dense white dwarf star.

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This Podcast is an authorized New Media Mirror Site for APOD. You can access the image and website directly at: Astronomy Picture of the Day. You can use the archive link below the image to select the photo corresponding to the date of this podcast.

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