26/09/2022
The helix nebula keeps an eye on the universe, approximately 650 light-years from Earth in the constellation Aquarius.
When some stars run out of fuel, they expand, forming a red giant and their outer layers peel off. After the outer layers shed, a hot core remains, forming a white dwarf star, known as a planetary nebula, a fate that awaits our Sun in about 5 billion years.
The blackness of space gives way to a brilliant nebula. In the center of the photo a white dwarf star appears, closely surrounding it is a pink and magenta circle. Around that, an oval with pinched together ends resembling an eye appears in shades of blue, green, red, yellow, and orange. Blue wisps are at the edges of the photo, with many stars dotted throughout the foreground and background
This image was created by overlapping images from four of our telescopes. Each telescope looks at the universe in different wavelengths of light: the visual spectrum from is shown in in orange and blue; X-Rays from Chandra in white; infrared data from the Spitzer Space Telescope in green and red; and ultraviolet light from the Galaxy Evolution Explorer in cyan.
Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC; Ultraviolet: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSC; Optical: NASA/STScI(M. Meixner)/ESA/NRAO(T.A. Rector); Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech/K. Su