The mesmerizing Ring Nebula. Perhaps what our sun we look like in 4.5 billion years
Our sun just like all other stars in the universe will not live forever. Which makes me wonder what is going to happen when it dies out. Maybe the Ring Nebula will give us the answers.
The Dumbbell Nebula, the first planetary nebula ever discovered.
Our sun is a star like billions of other stars in the universe and eventually it's life will come to an end. The sun is around 4.5 billion years old which astronomers predict is around half of its age before it dies out. What happens to a star at the end of its life depends on how big it is, a star like the sun which is a relatively small star will have a fairly peaceful ending to its life but will eventually expand until it consumes mercury, venus, our very own planet earth and probably mars too. So I guess that will be the end of us if we are still here in another 4.5 billion years! The Ring Nebula is a planetary nebula in the constellation Lyra which astronomers compare to the sun due to its relative size and mass and believe will have the same outcome. So, I set out to photograph it using the telescope but it wasn't going to be easy as it's 2,000 light years away from earth. I wanted to go even further and photograph the Bug Nebula and Dumbbell Nebula which are also planetary nebulae that may have once looked like the sun.
The Bug Nebula, 3,800 light years away from earth