Collision of Gases

In a mighty collision of gases near a dying star, tadpolelike objects dubbed "cometary knots" (because they resemble comets) seem to be swimming away from the doomed star. Each gaseous head is at least twice the size of our solar system; each tail stretches 100 billion miles. This is the closest such deathbed event to Earth, 450 light-years away in the constellation Aquarius.

Photo by Robert O'Dell, Kerry P. Handron (Rice University) and NASA.