Portal:Physics/Selected article/March 2008

A planetary nebula is an astronomical object consisting of a glowing shell of gas and plasma formed by certain types of stars at the end of their lives. The name originates from a similarity in appearance to giant planets when viewed through a small optical telescope, and is unrelated to planets of the solar system. They are a relatively short-lived phenomenon, lasting a few tens of thousands of years, compared to a typical stellar lifetime of several billion years.

In recent years, Hubble Space Telescope images have revealed many planetary nebulae to have extremely complex and varied morphologies. About a fifth are roughly spherical, but the majority are not spherically symmetric. Their formation depends on the mass of its star; lower mass stars, such as the sun usually form planetary nebulae, while higher mass stars, such as Zeta Ophiuchi will not. The average nebula is approximately 1 light year across.