Astronomy Picture of the Day ·

NGC 2440: Cocoon of a New White Dwarf

The Astronomy Picture of the Day for February 21, 2010 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 106 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, February 21, 2010

Read the full explanation on science.nasa.gov

At a glance

Date
February 21, 2010
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 106 words

All of February 2010 → · 2010 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: February 21 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.