astronomicalwonders: An Artist’s Impression of The Helix Nebula - NGC 7293 The Helix Nebula (N
astronomicalwonders: An Artist’s Impression of The Helix Nebula - NGC 7293 The Helix Nebula (NGC 7293) is a large planetary nebula located in the constellation Aquarius. The Helix Nebula’s estimated distance from earth is about 215 parsecs or 700 light-years. The Nebula has sometimes been referred to as the “Eye of God” in pop culture because of it’s eye like appearance. It was the first planetary nebula discovered to contain cometary knots, which can be seen as globs with tails around the center of the “pupil”. Astronomers have sense discovered similar structures in other planetary nebulae and use the Helix Nebula as a base case for comparison. There are more than 20,000 cometary knots estimated to be in the Helix Nebula. These knots remain somewhat of a mystery to astronomers. Credit: NASA/Hubble/JPL/Cal Tech/TylerCreatesWorlds -- source link