U Cameopardalis

A red giant star, U Cameopardalis has run out of stellar fuel and begun to lose the gravitational grip on its outermost layers, which are periodically blown far out into space in enormous gouts of gas. The shell of gas expelled from U Cam is almost perfectly spherical.

U Cam is also an example of a carbon star. This is a rare type of star whose atmosphere contains more carbon than oxygen. Due to its low surface gravity, typically as much as half of the total mass of a carbon star may be lost by way of powerful stellar winds.