Astronomy Picture of the Day ·

NGC 2440: Pearl of a New White Dwarf

The Astronomy Picture of the Day for May 17, 2015 is “NGC 2440: Pearl of a New White Dwarf,” an image. It is credited to Image Credit: H. Bond ( STScI ), R. Ciardullo ( PSU ), WFPC2 , HST , NASA ; Processing: Forrest Hamilton. The original explanation runs about 133 words.

NGC 2440: Pearl of a New White Dwarf
Credit: Image Credit: H. Bond ( STScI ), R. Ciardullo ( PSU ), WFPC2 , HST , NASA ; Processing: Forrest Hamilton Shown from science.nasa.gov. Not hosted by OpenOrbit.

From the explanation

“Like a pearl , a white dwarf star shines best after being freed from its shell. In this analogy, however, the Sun would be a mollusk and its discarded hull would shine prettiest of all!”

— APOD editors, May 17, 2015

Read the full explanation on science.nasa.gov

At a glance

Date
May 17, 2015
Type
Image
Credit
Credit: Image Credit: H. Bond ( STScI ), R. Ciardullo ( PSU ), WFPC2 , HST , NASA ; Processing: Forrest Hamilton
Copyright
No copyright notice on the entry. Check the credited institution’s own usage rules before reusing it.
Explanation length
About 133 words

All of May 2015 → · 2015 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: May 17 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.