Wednesday, Aug 27, 2025

he Retina Nebula is a bipolar planetary nebula located in the southern constellation Lupus. It has an apparent magnitude of 11 and lies approximately 2,000 light-years away. It is catalogued as IC 4406 in the Index Catalogue. Like all planetary nebulae, IC 4406 was formed when an evolved star reached the end of its life cycle and expelled its outer layers into space. The hot stellar remnant illuminates the nebula as the expanding dust clouds gradually move away from it. The nebula will eventually disappear into the surrounding space. In a few million years, all that will be left of it will be a fading white dwarf.