Spark and Perl go looking
It is a little smoke ring!
It is a star that has finished.
Did it go BANG?
No.
It was a star like our Sun.
When it got very, very old, it puffed up into a red giant.
Then it threw its outer layers off into space, and a small hot middle was left.
That small hot middle is still there, and it is called a white dwarf.
The layers are the nebula around it.
Will our Sun do that?
One day.
Not for an unimaginably long time.
But yes.
Six billion years from now. That is longer than the Earth has existed.
Yes.
In summer, in Lyra, between two stars.
You can see this from almost anywhere — but not the very far south.
Where to find the Ring Nebula, and when
Where the Earth is clear, it climbs high in the sky. The darker it gets, the lower it stays. Where it is black, it never comes up. No shading at all: it does not matter where you live.
What do I need to see the Ring Nebula?
You need a 150 mm telescope. Your eyes and binoculars will not show this one. This picture is about 200× — which is what that telescope gives on a good night.
Small, but unmistakably a ring.
Space
Eyes, binoculars, or telescope?
Read on
Go and look