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APOD
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
NGC 7293: The Helix Nebula
Explanation: 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 .
News: Today is Astronomy Day !
| Date | May 10, 2003 |
|---|---|
| Credit | Credit: NASA , WIYN , NOAO , ESA , Hubble Helix Nebula Team , M. Meixner ( STScI ), & T. A. Rector ( NRAO ) |
| Authors & editors: | Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP) |
| A service of: |
ASD at NASA / GSFC, NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U. |