Public domain
Little gem
From the collection of NASA Image and Video Library. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
This colourful bubble is a planetary nebula called NGC 6818, also known as the Little Gem Nebula. It is located in the constellation of Sagittarius (The Archer), roughly 6000 light-years away from us. The rich glow of the cloud is just over half a light-year across — humongous compared to its tiny central star — but still a little gem on a cosmic scale. When stars like the Sun enter retirement, they shed their outer layers into space to create glowing clouds of gas called planetary nebulae.
NASA Image and Video Library’s own descriptionSubjects
Credit lineLittle gem. NASA/GSFC, 2015-08-03. Public domain. ID: hubble-finds-a-little-gem_20185002499_o.
