BV 5-3 (PK 131-5.1)

In physics and astronomy symmetry and simplicity are the guiding precepts for the description of the universe. Few things exemplify this idea better than planetary nebula. This small and nearly perfectly spherical shell of gas glows due to the intense ultra-violet radiation of the central star. Our own Sun will end its life in this way by casting off its outer gases and revealing its bare nucleus- a white dwarf. So intense will be the direct radiation from the naked core that the Earth's atmosphere will be vaporized and its surface will be sterilized. Not to worry, we have about 5 billion years to be anxious about this particular problem. However, an observer on Earth would see a brilliant white point of light with the rest of the sky glowing in pastel greens and reds. From our far removed vantage point of this nebula, BV 5-3, we see how the sphere of gas glows. Greens and blues are more prominent in the interiors of planetary nebulae because the gas here is more strongly ionized and stripped of electrons. Further out the nebula glows more reddish because this same gas is less ionized and energized.

This image was taken as part of Advanced Observing Program (AOP) program at Kitt Peak Visitor Center during 2014.