Astronomical Ghost

An astronomical ghost looks down on all the little witches and goblins prowling the streets tonight: a "dead" star known as the Ghost of Jupiter. It's a type of object called a planetary nebula, which forms when a star like the Sun dies. The star expels its outer layers of gas into space, where they are illuminated by radiation from the star's hot, dense core. This is an ultraviolet view of the nebula (bright blue area at center) and tendrils of gas around it. The nebula isn't related to Jupiter in any way. To early telescopic observers, its image through the eyepiece simply resembled Jupiter. [NASA/JPL]