This video portrays NGC 7027, or the "Jewel Bug" nebula.

The nebula had been slowly puffing away its mass in quiet, spherically symmetric or perhaps spiral patterns for centuries - until relatively recently when it produced a new cloverleaf pattern. New observations of the nebula have found unprecedented levels of complexity and rapid changes in the jets and gas bubbles blasting off of the star at the centre of the nebula.

This visual shows the planetary nebula NGC 7027 and its surroundings.This video of NGC 7027 is among the first data of a planetary nebula taken with NICMOS. This picture is actually composed of three separate images taken at different wavelengths. The red colour represents cool molecular hydrogen gas, the most abundant gas in the universe.

The Hubble Space Telescope image of planetary nebula NGC 7027 shows remarkable new details of the process by which a star like the Sun dies.

New features include: faint, blue, concentric shells surrounding the nebula; an extensive network of red dust clouds throughout the bright inner region; and the hot central white dwarf, visible as a white dot at the center.

The visible and infrared light picture of NGC 7027 provides a more complete view of how this planetary nebula is being shaped, revealing steps in its evolution.

Credit:
NASA & ESO