The Inky Abyss
While we have already discussed the Orion constellation in this article, we have to sort of reference it again. As this Inky Abyss happens to be located there. Known as NGC 2022, the Abyss is actually a massive orb of gas that was cast off by an aging star. Smaller amateur telescopes can actually see this in the night sky, but for years it was hard to really make out. It looked a lot like a small glob of light and nothing more. That was until the Hubble Space Telescope had a chance to take a closer look at it. You can actually see the star in the middle that cast off all the gas to start with.
It is known as a Red Giant star, which is not uncommon to see. Our own Sun or Sol will eventually become a red giant too. Stars like our Sun and obviously this star will expand and glow red as they age. Upon doing this, outer laters will be shed and thus go off into space. A lot of the layers can be shed too, up to half of the star’s total mass in fact. At the same time, the core of the star will shrink and only become hotter. That caused it to emit ultraviolet light that causes the gases to glow like what we see here. That said, this is clearly one of the most breathtaking photos captured by NASA and the ESA for sure.