Helix Nebula
In astronomy, the Helix Nebula is one of the closest planetary nebulae to Earth.
It lies 140 parsecs or 450 light-years from Earth in the Aquarius constellation and has an angular diameter of about 0.5°.
Notes on the picture
The Helix Nebula
is an 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 (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.
(Text courtesy of NASA)