A gallery of bipolar planetary nebulae

This group portrait shows four bipolar planetary nebulae imaged using ESO telescopes. Studies of similar objects in the central bulge of the Milky Way have revealed an unexpected alignment. The objects shown here are much closer to Earth than those used in the new study, but demonstrate the varied forms of these spectacular objects.

The objects shown are: upper-left: the Dumbbell Nebula, Messier 27. upper-right: NGC 6302, lower-left: NGC 5189 and lower-right Fleming 1.