Ring Nebula

This public domain photo is from GRIN, the Great Images In NASA Collection within the NASA image archive.

This is a fantastic image of the infamous Ring Nebula. At the center of the ring of gases, the central star sits in a bath of hot helium. In concentric rings moving outwards, we see a variety of gases represented by the rainbow of colors. NASA’s website states that this nebula is located about “2,000 light-years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Lyra.”

The most breathtaking thing about this image is the brilliance of its colors, and as such it might make a fantastic color sampling palette.

This image was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope – NASA. NASA is an Agency of the United States Government, therefore this image is in the public domain.

700 kilobyte JPG. Hosted by nasa.gov.