Picture of the Day - Scattered Light from the Boomerang Nebula

The Hubble Space Telescope caught the Boomerang Nebula in this image taken with the Advanced Camera for Surveys in early 2005. This reflecting cloud of dust and gas has two nearly symmetric lobes of matter that are being ejected from a central star.



Each lobe of the nebula is nearly one light-year in length, making the total length of the nebula half as long as the distance from our Sun to our nearest neighbors - the alpha Centauri stellar system, located roughly 4 light-years away. The Bo [...]

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