NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and Chandra X-ray Observatory observed the death of a star much like the sun.
NGC 2392, located about 4,200 light years from Earth, is a dying star nicknamed the Eskimo Nebula -- what astronomers call a planetary nebula. Planetary nebulas actually have nothing to do with planets, but the objects looked like planetary disks to earlier astronomers looking through small optical telescopes.
Planetary nebulas form when a star uses up all of the hydrogen in its core -- an event our sun will go through in about five billion years.
When this happens, the star begins to cool and expand, increasing its radius by tens to hundreds of times its original size. Outer layers of the star are carried away by a 50,000 kilometer per hour wind, leaving behind a hot core.
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