*Description*: NGC 2440 is another planetary nebula ejected by a dying star, but it has a much more chaotic structure than NGC 2346. The central star of NGC 2440 is one of the hottest known, with a surface temperature near 200,000 degrees Celsius. The complex structure of the surrounding nebula suggests to some astronomers that there have been periodic oppositely directed outflows from the central star, somewhat similar to that in NGC 2346, but in the case of NGC 2440 these outflows have been episodic, and in different directions during each episode. The nebula is also rich in clouds of dust, some of which form long, dark streaks pointing away from the central star. In addition to the bright nebula, which glows because of fluorescence due to ultraviolet radiation from the hot star, NGC 2440 is surrounded by a much larger cloud of cooler gas which is invisible in ordinary light but can be detected with infrared telescopes. NGC 2440 lies about 4,000 light-years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Puppis. The Hubble Heritage team made this image from observations of NGC 2440 acquired by Howard Bond (STScI) and Robin Ciardullo (Penn State). Technical facts about this news release: About the Object Object Name: Herbig-Haro 32 HH 32 Object Description: Herbig-Haro Object Position (J2000): R.A. 19h 20m 33.13s Dec. +11° 01' 20.09" Constellation: Aquila Distance: 300 pc (960 light-years) from Earth Dimensions: The image is 1.6 arcminutes on the vertical side. The end of the optical jet is 40" (~12,000 AU) from the central star. The total length of the bipolar outflow is about 0.17 parsecs or 0.54 light-years. About the Data Instrument: WFPC2 Exposure Date: August 25, 1994 Exposure Time: 3.8 hours Filters: Red: F675W (R), Green: F656N (H-alpha), Blue: F673N ([S II]) Principal Astronomers: S. Curiel, Jorge Cantó, Alejandro Raga (Instituto de Astronomía, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México), Alberto Noriega-Crespo (IPAC), and collaborators. About this Image Image Credit: NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) Release Date: October 7, 1999 12:00 pm EDT Orientation: North is toward the left of the image. What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. To mark the first anniversary of the Hubble Heritage Project, we present four Hubble telescope images of nebulae surrounding stars in our own Milky Way Galaxy. Two of these visible-light pictures show interstellar gas and dust around young stars at the beginning of their lives, and two more show gas ejected from old stars that are nearing the end of theirs. Remarkably, in spite of the completely different evolutionary stages, the nebulae have more striking features in common, including evidence of diametrically opposed gas ejections from both the young and old stars. *News Release Number:*: STScI-1999-35e
