Astronomy Picture of the Day ·

NGC 2440: Cocoon of a New White Dwarf

The Astronomy Picture of the Day for April 26, 1998 is “NGC 2440: Cocoon of a New White Dwarf,” an image. It is credited to Credit: H. Bond (STSci), R. Ciardullo (PSU), WFPC2, HST, NASA. The original explanation runs about 105 words.

NGC 2440: Cocoon of a New White Dwarf
Credit: H. Bond (STSci), R. Ciardullo (PSU), WFPC2, HST, NASA Shown from science.nasa.gov. Not hosted by OpenOrbit.

From the explanation

“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!”

— APOD editors, April 26, 1998

Read the full explanation on science.nasa.gov

At a glance

Date
April 26, 1998
Type
Image
Credit
Credit: H. Bond (STSci), R. Ciardullo (PSU), WFPC2, HST, NASA
Copyright
No copyright notice on the entry. Check the credited institution’s own usage rules before reusing it.
Explanation length
About 105 words

All of April 1998 → · 1998 by month → · Full archive since 1995 →

Topics in this entry

The Sun

Topics are matched from words in the title and explanation.

On this day: April 26 in other years

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Source

Copy taken Oct 28, 2026, 2:39 AM EDT. The image and explanation belong to their creators. OpenOrbit is not affiliated with or endorsed by NASA.