# Planets Exploding

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planets-exploding/116031>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 26, 2002, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planets-exploding/116031 "2002-06-26T13:48:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![The\_Bad\_Astronomer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@The\_Bad\_Astronomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Bad_Astronomer)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2002, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planets-exploding/116031/21 "2002-06-28T23:38:16Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by sigSEGV \*  
> \*\*Explosions in space need not be spherical.  
> \*\*

Careful! None of those, except for perhaps the last one (Eta Carinae) are really explosions. They are planetary nebulae, which are more like outgassing events (from stellar winds) than impulse explosions.

Supernova 1987A was an explosion too, but the rings were formed about 20,000 years earlier than the actual explosion. See the link I put in my post above; it has a description of how those objects form, and also leads to a timeline of events for 87A.

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