In celebration of the 34th anniversary of the launch of NASA's legendary Hubble Space Telescope on April 24, 1990, astronomers took a snapshot of the Little Dumbbell Nebula. Also known as Messier 76, M76, or NGC 650/651, it is composed of a ring, seen edge-on as the central bar structure, and two lobes on either opening of the ring. 

Before a red giant star burned out, it ejected a ring of gas and dust. The ring was probably sculpted by the effects of a binary companion star. This sloughed off material created a thick disk of dust and gas along the plane of the companion's orbit. The hypothetical companion star isn't seen in the Hubble image, and so it could have been later swallowed by the central star. The disk would be forensic evidence for that stellar cannibalism.

The photogenic nebula is a favorite target of amateur astronomers. Professional astronomers first took a spectrum in 1891, which indicated it was a nebula instead of a galaxy or a star cluster. They suggested that M76 might be similar to the donut-shaped Ring Nebula (M57), as seen instead from a side view.