Ant Nebula, Bipolar Planetary Nebula, Menzel 3

This image could have imperfections as it’s either historical or reportage.

Planetary nebulas - so called because some of them resemble a planet when viewed through a small telescope - are produced in the late stages of a sun-like star's life. This image shows Chandra's view of Menzel 3 (Mz3, also known as the Ant Nebula), a planetary nebula about 3, 000 light years from Earth. Dynamic elongated clouds envelop bubbles of multimillion degree gas produced by high-velocity winds from dying stars.