Credit: KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/Mike Durkin and Lily Joe/Adam Block

In a universe such as ours, even the highly unlikely seems to happen surprisingly often. Here the superposition of two objects, a foreground planetary nebula and a background galaxy, make a striking diamond-ring effect. Indeed the carbon that makes a diamond would be found in the extended envelope of this star that has cast off its outer shell of gas. Heavy elements such as oxygen, carbon, silicon and a host of others are manufactured in the cores of stars. It is only in their deaths that this material is released into our galaxy to form everything from precious stones to people. The background galaxy then becomes a symbol of this process because it is through stellar evolution that galaxies show a diverse spectrum of shape and color. This image was taken as part of Advanced Observing Program (AOP) program at Kitt Peak Visitor Center during 2014.

Provider: NOIRLab

Image Source: https://noirlab.edu/public/images/noao-abell70durkin/

Curator: NSF's NOIRLab, Tucson, AZ, USA

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License