N90.Name

«Nebula at the right footofAndromeda … » begins the descriptionfor the 76th object in Charles Messier’s 18th century CatalogofNebulae and Star Clusters.In fact, M76 isone of the fainter objects on the Messier list andis also known by the popular name of the «Little Dumbbell Nebula».Like its brighter namesake M27(the Dumbbell Nebula), M76 is recognizedas a planetarynebula – a gaseous shroud cast off by adying sunlike star.The nebula itself is thought to be shaped more like a donut, while thebox-like appearance of its brighter centralregion is due to our nearly edge-on view.Gas expanding more rapidly away from the donut hole produces thefainter loops of far flung material.The fainter material is emphasized in this composite image, highlightedby showing emission from hydrogen atoms in orange and oxygen atomsin complementary blue hues.The nebula’s dying star can be picked out inthesharp false-color image as blue-tinted star near thecenter of the box-like shape. Distance estimates place M76 about 3 to 5 thousand light-years away,making the nebula over alight-year in diameter.

As the total phase ofJuly 11’s solar eclipse came to an end,sunlight streaming past the edge of the Moon’s silhouettecreated the fleeting appearance of a glisteningdiamond ringin the sky.Seen through a thin cloud layerfrom the French Polynesianatoll of Hao it also produced remarkableshadow bands,flickering across the dramatic scene.Projected onto the cloud layer, the shadow bands are parallelto the sliver of sunlight emerging from behind the Moon’s edge.Caused by turbulence inEarth’s atmosphere refracting the sliver of sunlight,the narrow bands were capturedin this brief, 1/400th second exposure.Shining through the cloud droplets, the sunlight alsoproduced a luminous atmospheric corona, not to be confused withthe solar corona seen during eclipse totality.Theatmospheric corona is centered on the bright diamond ofemerging sunlight.

as the blue-tinted star near thecenter of the box-like shape. Distance estimates place M76 about 3 to 5 thousand light-years away,making the nebula over a

Large galaxies grow by eating small ones.Even our own galaxy practicesgalactic cannibalism,absorbing small galaxies that get too close andare captured bythe Milky Way’s gravity.In fact, the practice is common in the universe andillustrated by this striking pair of interacting galaxiesfrom the banks of the southern constellationEridanusThe River).Located over 50 million light years away,the large, distorted spiral NGC 1532 is seen locked in agravitationalstruggle with dwarf galaxy NGC 1531, a struggle the smaller galaxywill eventually lose.Seen edge-on, spiral NGC 1532 spans about 100,000 light-years.Nicely detailed in this sharp image, theNGC 1532/1531 pair is thought to be similarto the well-studied system of face-on spiral and small companionknown as M51