Valentine Rose Nebula Blooms in Deep Space

A strange nebula in deep space shines like a cosmic rose in a new photo unveiled just in time for Valentine's Day.

The new image, released Wednesday (Feb. 13) by the National Optical Astronomy Observatory, may look like a wispy space flower, but it is actually an odd planetary nebula called Sh2-174.

A planetary nebula is one of the last stages of life for most mid-sized stars. Once a star runs out of fuel, it begins to collapse in on itself, creating the clouds of red and blue in the photo.

As the star sheds layers, it forms into a white dwarf a densely packed star that has the mass of the sun, but is stuffed into a volume about the size of the Earth.

"Usually the white dwarf…
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