A Shocking Skull of Gas |  A new Gemini Observatory image of NGC 246, nicknamed the "Skull Nebula," shows what can happen as the outer atmosphere of a fast-moving, dying star similar in composition to the Sun (in several billion years) pushes through its local cloud of interstellar gas and dust.

For more, see the Gemini Release.

Credit: Gemini South GMOS/Travis Rector University of Alaska Anchorage