NGC 2440: Cocoon of a New White Dwarf
Like a butterfly , a white dwarf star begins its life by casting off a cocoon that enclosed its former self. In this analogy, however, the Sun would be a caterpillar and the ejected shell of gas would become the prettiest of all! In the above cocoon , the planetary nebula designated NGC 2440, contains one of the hottest white dwarf stars known . 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. The above false color image was post-processed by Forrest Hamilton .