One of a Kind: Hubble Telescope Captures the Death of a Star (PHOTO)

The demise of a low-mass star located over 5,000 light years away from Earth was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope.

The image recorded by the telescope and posted on NASA’s official website depicts the star in question, a red giant, rapidly transforming into a planetary nebula by blowing its outer layers of dust and gas into the surrounding space.

Hubble Captures Brilliant Star Death in “Rotten Egg” Nebula

© ESA/Hubble & NASA, Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt

"The recently ejected material is spat out in opposite directions with immense speed — the gas shown in yellow is moving close to one million kilometers per hour," a statement posted on the website says.

This spectacular demise transpired in the Calabash Nebula (technical name OH 231.84 +4.22), also known as the Rotten Egg Nebula due to a high concentration of sulfur it contains, located some 5,000 light years from Earth in the constellation Puppis.