The Medusa Nebula is named for its long, looping, snakelike filaments of gas. It is a planetary nebula located in the Gemini constellation, 1,500 lightyears away. When small stars burn off all its hydrogen in the core, the outer layers begin expanding in a very unstable phase of the star's evolution. Eventually, much of the star's mass is ejected, while the central star continues to emit very high energy radiation, causing all the surrounding gases to glow. This is how the Medusa Nebula was born. It is subject to very rapid transformation as it evolves. The nebula is around 4 lightyears across.
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