In today's image, we see the planetary nebula known as the Butterfly Nebula. The is the end state of most stars, including our own Sun. The inner layers compact down to a white dwarf star while the outer layers are expelled out into space.

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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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