Just before dying, sunlike stars blossom into beauties. They set aglow cocoons of gas that they’ve previously hurled into space. These shimmering gas bubbles, which come in a rainbow of colors, take on intriguing shapes including teardrops, shells, a cat’s eye, doughnuts, and hourglasses.
Astronomers have for the first time caught one of these dying stars at the very beginning of this brief, shining period, when it’s known as a planetary nebula.