In its death throes, just before and during the creation of the planetary nebula, a star is at its most schizophrenic, switching chaotically from stability to catastrophe in a matter of days, blasting the system with renewed bouts of cosmic rays and radiation. Catching unsuspecting explorers and probes unawares. The stellar winds can go from a breezy 5 miles per second to a hurricane of 1000 miles per second in a matter of days. The nebula itself is rather safe: it’s just a cloud of hydrogen and a few other bits. Once ejected, it slows and cools quickly to safe and reasonably tolerant levels.
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