Space photo of the week: Little Dumbbell Nebula throws a wild party for Hubble telescope's 34th anniversary

The Little Dumbbell Nebula, a colorful, barbell-shaped cloud of gas, as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope (Image credit: NASA, ESA, STScI, A. Pagan (STScI))

What it is: The Little Dumbbell Nebula (also known as Messier 76, M76, NGC 650/651, the Cork Nebula and the Barbell Nebula), a planetary nebula

Where it is: 3,400 light-years away, in the constellation Perseus

Why it's so special: This is a new image of the Little Dumbbell Nebula (M76), a planetary nebula that's a popular target for telescopes in summer in the Northern Hemisphere.

The Little Dumbbell Nebula is a planetary nebula, which, contrary to what the name suggests, is not the remains of a planet. Rather, it's an expanding shell of gas and dust ejected from a red giant star as it collapsed into a dense, hot white dwarf star. (The shell’s bright, round shape may have been reminiscent of a planet when viewed through early telescopes.)

Hubble's new image shows the Little Dumbbell Nebula as two lobes of glowing gas and dust on both sides of a central bar. Scientists think the rings were caused by a second star that the central white dwarf star has since consumed.