#44 DEEP SPACE
Hubble image of the Ring Nebula (Messier 57).
![54ad2a9ce8edb59160cc0d8f_heic1310a_preview.jpg](../images/heic1310a_preview.jpg)
This new image shows the dramatic shape and colour of the Ring Nebula, otherwise known as Messier 57.
From Earth’s perspective, the nebula looks like a simple elliptical shape with a shaggy boundary. However, new observations combining existing ground-based data with new NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope data show that the nebula is shaped like a distorted doughnut. This doughnut has a rugby-ball-shaped region of lower-density material slotted into in its central “gap”, stretching towards and away from us.
Credit: NASA, ESA, and C. Robert O’Dell (Vanderbilt University).
From Earth’s perspective, the nebula looks like a simple elliptical shape with a shaggy boundary. However, new observations combining existing ground-based data with new NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope data show that the nebula is shaped like a distorted doughnut. This doughnut has a rugby-ball-shaped region of lower-density material slotted into in its central “gap”, stretching towards and away from us.
Credit: NASA, ESA, and C. Robert O’Dell (Vanderbilt University).