Crystal Ball Nebula hides a fading star and its companion

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Meet the Crystal Ball Nebula

NOIRLab released this sensational new image of the Crystal Ball Nebula on May 21, 2026. The Gemini North telescope captured this image from atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii. The Crystal Ball Nebula, also known as NGC 1514, lies in the constellation Taurus the Bull, at a distance of 1,500 light-years from us.

Astronomer William Herschel first spotted the Crystal Ball Nebula in 1790. Through his telescope he saw it as a star surrounded with a faintly luminous atmosphere.

A hidden pair shaping the nebula

But modern observations show there are actually two stars at the center of the nebula. One of the two stars in this binary pair, an O-type star, has shed its outer layers as it nears the end of its life. That’s what has created the ball of gas and dust around the stars, which astronomers call a planetary nebula. The name is a bit misleading, because its creation does not involve planets. It was in fact Herschel who coined the term planetary nebula, because their round shape reminded him of the planets.

The two stars complete an orbit around each other approximately once every nine years. That makes this pair’s orbit the longest known for any planetary nebula.

The Crystal Ball Nebula is a bit unusual for a planetary nebula. Most have smoother shapes. But the strong winds blowing from these stars create the sculpted tendrils of gas we can see in this image.

Bottom line: The Crystal Ball Nebula is a giant sphere of gas and dust encircling a pair of stars in the direction of the constellation Taurus the Bull.

Read more: Iconic Ring Nebula holds a mysterious iron bar, study finds

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