NGC 2392 Nebula from Hubble
In 1787, astronomer
William Herschel discovered
NGC 2392.
From the ground, NGC 2392 resembles a person's head
surrounded by a parka hood.
In 2000, the
Hubble Space Telescope imaged
NGC 2392.
From space, the nebula displays gas clouds so
complex they are
not fully understood.
NGC 2392 is clearly a
planetary nebula, and the gas seen above composed the
outer layers of a
Sun-like star only 10,000 years ago.
The inner filaments visible above are being ejected by strong
wind of particles from the central star.
The outer disk contains unusual
light-year long orange filaments.
The NGC 2392
Nebula spans about 1/3 of a light year and lies in our
Milky Way Galaxy,
about 3,000 light years distant, toward the constellation of the Twins
(Gemini).