Nasa spots ‘very dramatic and very weird’ fading of already unusual planetary nebula

An already strange planetary nebula has been spotted fading, in what scientists have said is "very, very dramatic and very weird" behaviour.

The Stingray nebula, a shroud of gas around an ageing star, was already unusual: it is by far the youngest such object in space.

But scientists say that it is now getting dimmer as rapidly as it appeared. Its brightness has dropped by a factor of nearly 1,000 over 20 years, and the bright tendrils that once wrapped around its edges are gone.

The nebula could be gone in 20 years, if the fading continues at the same rate, scientists say. And it was probably already on its way out when it was first spotted by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1996.