When an average star (like our sun) runs out of hydrogen it has reached the end of its main sequence life. Without the pressure of energy from the hydrogen furnace it starts collapsing. As it collapses, layers outside the core become hot enough to fuse hydrogen, and the higher pressure from the new fuel pushes the outer layers out until it's 100x it's original size. As it expands, the outer layers cool, and the star turns from white to yellow to red - thus the name Red Giant - a process that can take 100s of millions of years. As a finale, the core collapses enough to emit a new blast of energy which ionizes all the gas that's blown off and it lights up in a spectacular fashion.
This is called a planetary nebula (and has nothing to do with planets). They often have an hourglass shape, but are generally a fantastic menagerie. (see: https://esahubble.org/images/?search=%22planetary+nebula%22).
These are the creatures that inspired these earrings.
30mm
sterling silver, stones vary
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As each item is made by hand they will vary slightly. The stones may have different patterns, and inclusions. I will include images of the variations available.
Photo Credit: Raghvendra Sahai and John Trauger (JPL), the WFPC2 science team, and NASA
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