images

Planetary nebula NGC 2440 in Puppis

by

NASA/Novapix

Reference

a-nep24-40002

Date

2006-08-31

The above cocoon, the planetary nebula designated NGC 2440, contains one of the hottest white dwarf stars known with a surface temperature near 200,000 degrees Celsius. The white dwarf can be seen as the bright dot near the photo's center. Our Sun will eventually become a "white dwarf butterfly", but not for another 5 billion years. NGC 2440 lies about 4,000 light-years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Puppis.