This new image shows the dramatic shape and color of the Ring Nebula, otherwise known as Messier 57. From Earth's perspective, the nebula looks like a simple elliptical shape with a shaggy boundary. However, new observations combining existing ground-based data with new NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope data show that the nebula is shaped like a distorted donut. This donut has a rugby-ball-shaped region of lower-density material slotted into in its central 'hole', stretching towards and away from us.