 be seen in infrared or longer-wavelength light.
EVEN THE UNIVERSE HAS A ROMANTIC SIDE: ASTRONOMERS RELEASE IMAGE OF 'RED ROSE' NEBULA - JUST IN TIME FOR VALENTINE'S DAY
As we gear up for the one day of the year dedicated to lovers, it seems that even the Universe has a romantic side.
Planetary nebula Sh2-174 gives the appearance of a red rose but is actually the remains of a dying star some 1,000 light years away.
Astronomers from the U.S. National Optical Astronomy Observatory released the image on the eve of Valentine's Day.
Our love is in the stars: The rose-like planetary nebula Sh2-174
A planetary nebula is created when a low-mass star blows off its outer layers at the end of its life.
The core of the star remains and becomes an immensely dense white dwarf.
Usually the white dwarf is found right at the heart of the nebula, but in the case of Sh2-174 it is shifted to one side.
In the image, it is the blue star near the right hand edge of the nebula, where the gas turns from red to blue.
The image was taken using the Mayall four-metre telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona.
Observations were made through four different colour filters.
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