This pic captures Shapley 1, the Fine Ring Nebula: a thin circular ring glowing pale turquoise and blue-green from ionized oxygen, with a small bright point right at the center. The dark background sparkles with faint distant stars. It looks like a cosmic eye. Credit: Peter Bresseler
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It looks like a cosmic eye staring back at us from space… but it's not!
Meet Shapley 1 (also known as the Fine Ring Nebula), one of the most perfectly symmetric and beautiful planetary nebulae in the sky.🔭
➡️ apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap26030...
Image credit: Peter Bresseler
🧪 #galactic ⚛️ #universe