Messier 97, also known as the Owl Nebula, is a planetary nebula located about 2,000 light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. Its round appearance and twin dark cavities give it the look of a cosmic owl face, a structure shaped by strong stellar winds from the central white dwarf—what remains of a sun-like star near the end of its life.

Surrounding the brighter core is a faint, expansive halo of older gas, expelled in an earlier phase of stellar evolution and now slowly fading into the interstellar medium. This deep image captures both the intricate inner structure and the extended outer shell in fine detail. It was acquired from Dassendorf and Reinbek, Germany, where dark skies and stable conditions allowed for the faint outer ring to be revealed.