Look closely… do you see an hourglass, or does it feel like something in the cosmos is watching you?
This breathtaking planetary nebula, MyCn 18, forms a near-perfect hourglass shape with a striking, almost eye-like glow at its center.
What you’re seeing is the dramatic final chapter in the life of a Sun-like star. After exhausting its nuclear fuel, the dying star expelled its outer layers into space, leaving behind a hot, dense white dwarf at the core. The expanding gas clouds glow in different colors that reveal their chemical makeup.

These colorful shells trace the complex streams of gas sculpted by stellar winds and shockwaves, creating one of the most beautiful structures in deep space.
In 1995, the powerful vision of the Hubble Space Telescope captured this extraordinary detail, helping astronomers study how planetary nebulae evolve and how stars like our Sun eventually end their lives.
Image Credit: NASA, European Space Agency, Hubble Legacy Archive | Processing: Harshwardhan Pathak

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