How to Use planetary nebula in a Sentence

planetary nebula

noun
  • Even stars that are just a few percent less massive than the sun will not produce a planetary nebula.
    — Jason Daley, Smithsonian, 9 May 2018
  • Contrary to its name, a planetary nebula isn’t where planets form.
    — Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 27 Aug. 2025
  • Abell 31 is a planetary nebula, a cloud of gas formed when a dying star expels winds of matter.
    — Phil Plait, Discover Magazine, 13 Feb. 2012
  • This large planetary nebula includes an expanding cloud of gas around a dying star.
    — Ashley Strickland, CNN, 12 July 2022
  • This small planetary nebula, like others like it, was formed by gases in the outer layers of a dying star.
    — Miguel Claro, Space.com, 22 Mar. 2025
  • Though the phenomenon is called a planetary nebula, the term is a misnomer.
    — Leslie Nemo, Scientific American, 15 Jan. 2021
  • The leftovers of a star that went supernova are called planetary nebula.
    — Jamie Carter, Forbes, 23 July 2022
  • Scientists believe that one of the planetary nebula’s two orbiting stars — once bigger than our sun — gave up the ghost.
    — Marcia Dunn, Los Angeles Times, 1 June 2026
  • This expanding cloud of gas, called a planetary nebula, is the result of a dying star that is blowing off its outer layers.
    — Jake Parks, Discover Magazine, 11 July 2022
  • In about 5 billion years, the sun will also turn into a white dwarf surrounded by a pretty planetary nebula.
    — Keith Cooper, Space.com, 26 Nov. 2025
  • Out in the cosmic landscape, planetary nebulas would offer the perfect Halloween doors to knock on.
    — Monisha Ravisetti, Space.com, 30 Oct. 2025
  • Despite their name, planetary nebulas are not related to planets.
    — Carlyn Kranking, Smithsonian Magazine, 23 July 2024
  • Instead, a planetary nebula is formed when an older, massive star blasts off some of its outer layers, forming a ring of expanding gas.
    — John Timmer, Ars Technica, 8 July 2022
  • As a red giant, Arcturus is at the end of its life and will eventually transform into a planetary nebula.
    — Elizabeth Gamillo, Discover Magazine, 5 Mar. 2024
  • The colorful cloud in the image—somewhat misleadingly called a planetary nebula—is only a few thousand years old.
    — Allison Parshall, Scientific American, 17 Mar. 2023
  • Finally, its now-inert core contracts down to form a white dwarf, while the prior ejecta get heated up and ionized, creating a planetary nebula.
    — Big Think, 20 Feb. 2026
  • In one image of the Southern Ring planetary nebula, the shells of gas and dust ejected from dying stars like our sun, provide detail from the late stages of a star’s life.
    — Camille Fine, USA TODAY, 12 July 2022
  • Amateur astronomers can squint into an eight-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope and learn how to identify a dwarf galaxy from a planetary nebula.
    — Mark Johanson, Outside, 18 Mar. 2026
  • Scientists are calling this the first-ever detailed view of a planetary nebula, and are hoping to bring their insights to similar nebulas elsewhere.
    — Elizabeth Howell, Space.com, 23 Apr. 2026
  • Spotted by Charles Messier in 1764, its the first planetary nebula discovered.
    — Kurt Snibbe, Oc Register, 8 Aug. 2025
  • The Egg Nebula is a pre-planetary nebula — an early form of a planetary nebula, which is a glowing shell of gas and dust shed from a dying sun-like star.
    — Stefanie Waldek, Space.com, 11 Feb. 2026
  • Those intense stellar winds will eventually expel the atmosphere and stellar envelope, and the star will become a white dwarf star within a planetary nebula.
    — Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 29 Mar. 2022
  • This planetary nebula is the remains of a star similar to the sun, which shed most of its mass at the end of its life, with its core becoming a smoldering white dwarf shrouded by this ex-stellar material.
    — Robert Lea, Space.com, 5 Mar. 2025
  • The Helix Nebula is an example of what astronomers call planetary nebulas, a nod to their orblike shape, as seen in early telescopes.
    — Joseph Howlett, Scientific American, 20 Jan. 2026
  • Initial observations of the detailed map have already revealed around 500 planetary nebulas—dust and gas from dying stars—that reside in the galaxy.
    — Margherita Bassi, Smithsonian Magazine, 23 June 2025
  • But the appearance of planetary nebulas has little to do with planets at all—these nebulas are actually roiling clouds of hot gas that emanate from dying sunlike stars and linger after their deaths.
    — Joseph Howlett, Scientific American, 20 Jan. 2026
  • The Cat's Eye Nebula is known as a planetary nebula, but that name is somewhat misleading, as these clouds of ionized gas don't have anything to do with planets.
    — Brett Tingley, Space.com, 10 Mar. 2026
  • Another class of object that the dusty blobs could hypothetically be—but are not—is a compact planetary nebula or CPN.
    — Elizabeth Rayne, Ars Technica, 4 July 2024
  • On top of a high-res sensor, the telescope also has very fine sampling, which provides stronger angular resolution and more structural detail in galaxies and planetary nebulas.
    — Harry Bennett, Space.com, 28 Nov. 2025
  • That characteristic ionization marks a full-fledged planetary nebula.
    — Big Think, 3 Nov. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'planetary nebula.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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