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Helix Nebula Context (VISTA and Webb)

Two panels showing different views of a planetary nebula. The left panel, labeled VISTA, shows colorful light from a glowing cloud shaped like an American football at 45-degree angle. It looks resembles an eye. The outer edges of the nebula are red and clumpy, and traveling in towards the center, they become yellow and golden. The center of the nebula is black and speckled with tiny stars. At three o’clock along the shell of gas, there is a rectangular box around part of the shell. Lines extend from the box to the right, where the image shows thousands of orange and gold comet-like pillars stream leftward from the right, like thin liquid blown up a sheet of glass. These pillars are around the circumference of the arced shell, which forms a partial orange semi-circle at the right. The pillars are more numerous and denser at the right, and darker red.

This image of the Helix Nebula from the ground-based Visible and Infrared Telescope for Astronomy (left) shows the full view of the planetary nebula, with a box highlighting the smaller field of view from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam (right).

About the Object

  • R.A. Position
    R.A. PositionRight ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.
    22:29:36.3
  • Dec. Position
    Dec. PositionDeclination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.
    -20:50:39.1
  • Constellation
    ConstellationOne of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.
    Aquarius
  • Distance
    DistanceThe physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs.
    650 light-years
  • Dimensions
    DimensionsThe physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky.
    Left image is about 25.7 arcminutes across (5 light-years) Right image is about 5.6 arcminutes across (1 light-year)

About the Data

  • Data Description
    Data DescriptionProposal: A description of the observations, their scientific justification, and the links to the data available in the science archive.
    Science Team: The astronomers who planned the observations and analyzed the data. "PI" refers to the Principal Investigator.

    Left image was created from data taken by the Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA)

    Right image was created with Webb data from proposal: 6557 (M. Garcia Marin).

  • Instrument
    InstrumentThe science instrument used to produce the data.
    VISTA>VIRCAM Webb>NIRCam
  • Exposure Dates
    Exposure DatesThe date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.
    Webb> 24 October 2024
  • Filters
    FiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.
    VISTA> Y, K, J Webb> F115W, F187N, F212N, F356W, F444W, F470N
  • Object Name
    Object NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
    Helix Nebula, NGC 7293
  • Object Description
    Object DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.
    Planetary Nebula
  • Release Date
    January 20, 2026
  • Science Release
    Intricacies of Helix Nebula Revealed With NASA’s Webb
    Read the release
  • Credit
    Image: ESO, VISTA, NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, J. Emerson (ESO); Acknowledgment: CASU

Downloads

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    tif (77.71 MB)
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  • 2000 × 1159
    jpg (1.45 MB)
Two panels showing different views of a planetary nebula. The left panel, labeled VISTA, shows colorful light from a glowing cloud shaped like an American football at 45-degree angle. It looks resembles an eye. The outer edges of the nebula are red and clumpy, and traveling in towards the center, they become yellow and golden. The center of the nebula is black and speckled with tiny stars. At three o’clock along the shell of gas, there is a rectangular box around part of the shell. Lines extend from the box to the right, where the image shows thousands of orange and gold comet-like pillars stream leftward from the right, like thin liquid blown up a sheet of glass. These pillars are around the circumference of the arced shell, which forms a partial orange semi-circle at the right. The pillars are more numerous and denser at the right, and darker red.
Color Info
Color InfoA brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented.

The right image is a composite of separate exposures acquired by the James Webb Space Telescope using the NIRCam instrument. Several filters were used to sample specific wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic (grayscale) image associated with an individual filter. In this case, the assigned colors are:   Blue= F115W+F187N, Green= F212N+F356W, Red= F444W+F470N  

Related Images & Videos

A closeup of a small section of the Helix Nebula, an expanding shell of gas and dust. Thousands of orange and gold comet-like pillars stream upward from the bottom, like thin liquid blown up a sheet of glass. These pillars are around the circumference of the arced shell, which forms a partial orange semi-circle at the bottom. The pillars are more numerous and denser at the bottom, and darker red. They fade to orange and then yellow in the arc. In the top two-thirds, they are thinner and more golden, and itu2019s easier to see the black background of space. Several bright blue stars, some with diffraction spikes, are scattered throughout. A few larger stars are on the right side.

Helix Nebula (NIRCam)

This new image of a portion of the Helix Nebula from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope highlights comet-like knots, fierce stellar winds, and layers of gas shed off by a dying star interacting with its surrounding environment.

Image titled u201cJames Webb Space Telescope, Helix Nebula, NGC 7293u201d with compass arrows, scale bar, and color key. Image shows thousands of orange and gold comet-like pillars stream upward from the bottom, like thin liquid blown up a sheet of glass. These pillars are around the circumference of the arced shell, which forms a partial orange semi-circle at the bottom. Several bright blue stars are scattered throughout. At the bottom left are compass arrows indicating the orientation of the image on the sky. The north arrow points in the 2 ou2019clock direction. The east arrow points toward 11 ou2019clock. At the lower right is a scale bar labeled .25 light-years. The length of the scale bar is about one-fifth the total width of the image. Below the image is a color key showing which NIRCam filters were used to create the image and which visible-light color is assigned to each filter. From left to right, NIRCam filters are: F115W and F187N are blue, F212N and F356W are green, F444W and F470N are red.

Helix Nebula (NIRCam Compass Image)

This image of the Helix Nebula, captured by the NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) instrument on Webb, includes compass arrows, scale bar, and color key for reference.

Almost resembling an eye, a circular region of glowing blue gas is ringed in yellow gas, surrounded by a football-shaped red region. The nebula shines against black space dotted with stars. There is a rectangular box outlined in white at about 4 o'clock.

Observatory Comparison (Hubble/Spitzer/Webb)

This video compares images of the Helix Nebula from three NASA observatories: Hubble’s image in visible light, Spitzer’s infrared view, and Webb’s high-resolution near-infrared look.

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Details

Last Updated
Jan 20, 2026
Location
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Contact
Media

Laura Betz
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
laura.e.betz@nasa.gov

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