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NGC 7293 Helix nebula
Field centered on R.A. 22h 30' & Dec. -20° 50'
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Will our Sun look like this one day? The Helix Nebula is the closest example of a planetary nebula created at the end of the life of a Sun-like star. The outer gasses of the star expelled into space appear from our vantage point as if we are looking down a helix. The remnant central stellar core, destined to become a white dwarf star, glows in light so energetic it causes the previously expelled gas to fluoresce. The Helix Nebula, given a technical designation of NGC 7293, lies about 650 light-years away towards the constellation of Aquarius and spans about 2.5 light-years. The above picture is a composite of newly released images from the ACS instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope and wide-angle images from the Mosaic Camera on the WIYN 0.9-m Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory. A close-up of the inner edge of the Helix Nebula shows complex gas knots of unknown origin. (Text taken from Astronomy Picture of the Day) |
Instrument:
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Color
composite: |
| Palomar Observatory's
48-inch (1.2-meter) Samuel Oschin Schmidt Telescope |
POSS II Red
& Blue glass plates |
Palomar Observatory |
Marco Lorenzi |
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All of the photographs and text on these pages are copyrighted by Marco Lorenzi.
They may not be reproduced, published, copied or transmitted
in any form, including electronically on the Internet or World Wide
Web, without written permission of the author. |