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Spooky space: Blue ring nebula reveals the secrets of binary stars


In 2004, the Galaxy Evolution Explorer, an orbiting space telescope scanning distant groups of galaxies, found a bizarre object. Among other oddities, this body appeared to be blue, despite giving off no visible light. Careful observations showed the presence of a pair of rings within the body, earning it the moniker of the Blue Ring Nebula. Sixteen years of studying this rare object found it to be a ring of hydrogen gas, surrounding what looks like an ordinary star. However, the properties of this object suggest the star at the center of this object is, itself, the product of the merger…

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