NASA highlights the idyllic, lonely space oasis of 'Necklace Nebula' stars

This cluster of stellar bodies may be formally known as the "Necklace Nebula," but to me it just looks like a peaceful, lush oasis hanging out in deep space.

The interaction of two doomed stars has created this spectacular ring adorned with bright clumps of gas — a diamond necklace of cosmic proportions. Fittingly known as the Necklace Nebula, this planetary nebula is located 15 000 light-years away from Earth in the small, dim constellation of Sagitta (The Arrow). The Necklace Nebula — which also goes by the less glamorous name of PN G054.2-03.4 — was produced by a pair of tightly orbiting Sun-like stars. Roughly 10 000 years ago, one of the aging stars expanded and engulfed its smaller companion, creating something astronomers call a “common envelope”. The smaller star continued to orbit inside its larger companion, increasing the bloated giant’s rotation rate until large parts of it spun outwards into space. This escaping ring of debris formed the Necklace Nebula, with particularly dense clumps of gas forming the bright “diamonds” around the ring. The pair of stars which created the Necklace Nebula remain so close together — separated by only a few million kilometres — that they appear as a single bright dot in the centre of this image. Despite their close encounter the stars are still furiously whirling around each other, completing an orbit in just over a day.  The Necklace Nebula was featured in a previously released Hubble image, but now this new image has been created by applying advanced processing techniques, making for a new and improved view of this intriguing object. The composite image includes several exposures from Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, K. Noll

Look at that. Gorgeous, right? This "diamond necklace of cosmic proportions," as NASA describes it, is situated about 15,000 light-years from Earth, and it makes up a part of the Sagitta Constellation.

The Necklace Nebula was "born" about 10,000 years ago when the larger of two suns in a tight orbit expanded and engulfed its stellar sibling. But the smaller star continued its orbit, which in turn caused the larger star to rotate more quickly.

The escalating dance between these two stellar bodies sent debris and gas hurtling out into the surrounding space. Those extruded materials form the colorful array you see in the photo above, captured by the Hubble Space Telescope. The "diamonds" are actually dense clusters of gas.

The original two stars that got this party started are still visible, though not as individuals. We see them as the bright, white dot in the middle of the green-hued inner ring (which is also the bit that gives me space oasis vibes here). The two are still in a close orbit around each other, with one revolution taking about a single Earth day to complete.

This photo represents a new look at the Necklace Nebula from Hubble. The earlier look, from 2011, wasn't quite as colorful, but this new one, snapped by the satellite's Wide Field Camera 3, benefits from more modern processing techniques.