Cosmic ‘crystal ball’: Gemini North telescope captures glowing images of dying star 1500 light years away

Astronomers have captured a striking new image of a dying star system resembling a milky white crystal ball. The image, released by the US National Science Foundation’s NOIRLab, was taken by the Gemini North Telescope located atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii. It shows a binary star system about 1,500 light-years from Earth surrounded by a luminous, spherical cloud of gas known informally as the Crystal Ball Nebula.Formally designated NGC 1514, the object is classified as a planetary nebula, a type of cosmic structure formed when a star nearing the end of its life expels its outer layers into space. The exposed stellar core emits intense ultraviolet radiation that heats the surrounding gas to temperatures of tens of thousands of degrees, causing it to glow brightly.Astronomers believe one of the two stars in the binary system, once larger than the Sun, has already entered this advanced stage of stellar evolution. Scientists also say the gravitational interaction between the two stars likely contributes to the nebula’s remarkably symmetrical and almost spherical appearance.