This brings us to our most grand nebula, the Butterfly nebula. While a lot of nebulae require a degree of squinting to be able to see what they are named after this beautiful butterfly is right there for all to see. This is a planetary nebula left over again from a dying star too small to supernova. At the very centre of the butterfly it was recently discovered that there is a white dwarf; a small dim star left over from the original one's death, which can be the size of a large planet! Here we have a composite of many layers of images taken with the Hubble Space Telescope to show the intricate details within this enormous cloud. While this is actually the smallest item on the list, (a measly two light years across) this has to be one of the most astounding nebulae out there. So while we don't always get to see these wonderful events in action, it's very rare to catch a supernova going off and it takes millions of years to see an individual star grow from a cloud into a fully-fledged adult, it is possible to use these wonderful cloud remnants to tell something about the astronomy events of the past. Otherwise we'll just have to be lucky students in the right place, at the right time!
I'm currently obtaining my doctorate in Astrophysics making me a huge nerd. I'm a fan of movies, books and games as well as having a big soft spot for music, particularly soundtracks. If it's an hour long discussion about which Final Fantasy game was the best, I'm your best bet.
