HELIX NEBULA (GOD’S EYE)

By Troy Korb

Helix Nebula

Also called God’s Eye, or NGC 7293 It is the closest nebula to Earth

It is only about 213 Parsecs (690 Light years) away It is debated on how far away it actually is,

somewhere between 450 to 650 to 690 light years

It lies with in the Aquarius Constellation

Helix Nebula

It is a Planetary Nebula Means it could create planets

It is about 287 Arcminutes (5.6 Light Years, or 1.7 Parsecs) across

Structure

It is thought to have a complex structure Almost as if It had two disks nearly

perpendicular to each other Can not be all that sure because the Hubble only

takes 2-D pictures Its color comes mostly from hydrogen

(red outer disk) and oxygen (blue outside of inside disk)

Tentacles

It seems to have tentacles pointing to the white dwarf star (in the blue and red parts) It is thought to be created by hot stellar wind

plowing into colder shells of dust and gas The tentacles are almost comet like They have been observed from Earth for

a long time, but never up close

Sources

http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2004/32/fastfacts/

http://hubblesite.org/gallery/album/pr2004032d/

http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2004/32/fastfacts