Last updated at 10:15 19 February 2007

A swirling mass of red and blue, this stunning image belies a dark moment in the Universe.

When replicated by the Sun, it will spell the end of life on Earth.

The image, captured by the Hubble Space Telescope, shows in incredible detail the death throes of a star identical to our own sun.

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The star is ending its life by casting off its outer layers of gas, sending them hurtling though the depths of space.

One day, the Sun will also spew out its superhot contents as it implodes, engulfing and consuming the Earth in the process.

At the end of its life, all that will remain will be its hot core, or white dwarf, similar to the white dot in the centre of the dying star shown.

Known simply as NGC 2440, the star imploded 4,000 years ago, after burning out the supply of hydrogen it uses as fuel.

But the star was so far away that it has taken this long for the light from it to reach the Hubble telescope which is orbiting the Earth.

Dr Lars Christensen, of the Hubble project, said that a similar fate belies Earth - but not for another five billion years.

'This is just what will happen to our own Sun,' he said. 'It will collapse into a very dense object, cool down and die.'

The end of life, is however, also the start of life, with the minerals hurled out by the Sun's collapse providing the building blocks of new life.

Helium, oxygen and nitrogen are among the elements released by the death of a star.

Dr Christensen said: 'Its outer shells will seed the galaxy with complex elements.

'Carbon is also produced in these eruptions, so you can see we get all the main building blocks of life created in these stars.

'They blow apart and seed the universe with them.

'The carbon, nitrogen and oxygen atoms from which we are made were made in stars like these billions of years ago.'

The different elements are clearly visible in the picture of the death of NGC 2440.

Within the entire structure - known as a planetary nebula - the blue regions are rich in helium, the blue-green regions, oxygen, and the red areas nitrogen and hydrogen.

Dr Stephen Smartt, an astronomer at Queen's University Belfast, said: 'This is one of the great cycles of birth and death in the universe.

'The atoms that were made inside this star are being sprayed across space and will one day form clouds that will eventually coalesce into other stars, planets and possibly living creatures.'