"The suspected companion stars in NGC 6302 and NGC 7027 haven't been directly detected because they are next to, or perhaps have already been swallowed by, larger red giant stars, a type of star that is hundreds to thousands of times brighter than the sun," said team member Bruce Balick of the University of Washington in Seattle in the press statement. "The hypothesis of merging stars seems the best and simplest explanation for the features seen in the most active and symmetric planetary nebulas. It's a powerful unifying concept, so far without rival." … [Read more...] about Hubble Hubble: Telescope Provides Stunning New Images of Two Planetary Nebulas
