This nebula is the cast-off atmosphere of what used to be a sun-like star. As a normal
part of such a star's aging, the outer layers of the star are expelled (recycled) into
space, while the remnants of the star collapse to become a super-dense white dwarf, with the
mass of the sun squeezed into an object the size of the earth.
In this image, you can just tell that the star at the center of the nebula
is not a single star, but in fact two (though they are not cleanly separated in this picture,
the tiny white dwarf star appears as a little "bump" at the 1:00 position of its companion
star). This object is 1600 light years from earth, and is found in the constellation Cetus.

Image data:
Telescope: Hyperion 12.5"
Camera: SBIG STL-11000
Exposure: Luminance = 280 minutes (10 minutes x 28, binned 1x1)
Color = 50 minutes each of RGB (10 minutes x 5, binned 2x2)