Abell 7 is a large, faint planetary nebula formed from the outer layers of a Sun-like star shed near the end of its life. Spanning several light-years, its diffuse spherical shell is the remnant of a slow stellar outflow that has been expanding and thinning for over 20,000 years. The soft blue glow traces doubly ionized oxygen, while patches of red reveal hydrogen emission where denser knots of gas persist within the aging structure.

Captured from Rooisand, Namibia, this wide-field view emphasizes Abell 7’s isolation against a deep background of Milky Way stars and distant galaxies. The nebula’s low surface brightness makes it a challenging target, but its subtle colors and near-perfect symmetry offer a quiet portrait of stellar evolution, showing how enriched material is returned to interstellar space to seed future generations of stars.