A planetary nebula, the final stage of a low-mass star's life as it casts off its gaseous envelope and becomes a white dwarf. Two stars orbit inside a gaseous disk. The expelled envelope of the dying star breaks out from this disk to create twin lobes. From Earth, this phenomenon can be observed in M2-9 (the Butterfly Nebula), also known as Minkowski's Butterfly, at 9100 light-years away. Gorgeous. - BF