NGC 3132 "Southern Ring" (2013)

A jewel of the southern sky, NGC 3132 has captivated my imagination. Searching through the HLA I found a rarely used* filter, f631n, which is neutral oxygen (OI), added an extra dimensionality to the nebula by strongly highlighting the rims of the cloud-like formations. The details pierce all the way through the depths of the the nebula, making it appear much rounder, like looking into a cosmic womb.

*When I say this I mean I don’t see it very often for the planetary nebulas in the archive. I don’t mean that it’s rarely used overall.

Red: hst_08390_01_wfpc2_f658n_wf_sci
Yellow: hst_06221_02_wfpc2_f631n_wf_sci
Green: hst_08390_01_wfpc2_f555w_wf_sci
Blue: hst_08390_01_wfpc2_f502n_wf_sci

North is NOT up

Copyright information:
Hubble data is public domain, but I put a lot of work into combining it into beautiful color images. The minimal credit line should read: NASA / ESA / J. Schmidt

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.