April 7, 2009--The planetary nebula known as NGC 3242 shines in ultraviolet light in a new image taken by NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer space telescope.

NASA released the picture as part of an event called Around the World in 80 Telescopes, a live 24-hour webcast held on April 3-4 UT that offered viewers virtual tours of "some of the most advanced observatories both on and off the planet." (Watch recordings of the webcast.)

NGC 3242, nicknamed Jupiter's Ghost, was discovered by astronomer William Herschel in 1785. Using telescopes of the era, such cosmic objects resembled gas giant planets, spawning the misnomer "planetary nebulae." Astronomers now know that the nebulae have nothing to do with planets, but are instead the remains of dead sunlike stars.

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