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Dying lights

Greg Meyer, taken from Starfront Observatory, near Brady, Texas

Two faint planetary nebulae glow in Cassiopeia — Abell 6 (lower left), about 3,750 light-years away, and HFG1 (upper right), roughly 2,300 light-years distant. These objects are dying, Sun-like stars shedding their outer layers as they run out of nuclear fuel. HFG1 displays a prominent bow shock as the expanding gas plows through the interstellar medium — a rare feature for a planetary nebula. The imager took 51 hours of exposure in Hα/OIII/RGB filters with a 4.7-inch f/7 refractor.