View allAll Photos Tagged HelixNebula
This composite image is a view of the colorful Helix Nebula taken with the Advanced Camera for Surveys aboard NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and the Mosaic II Camera on the 4-meter telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. The object is so large that both telescopes were needed to capture a complete view. The Helix is a planetary nebula, the glowing gaseous envelope expelled by a dying, sun-like star. The Helix resembles a simple doughnut as seen from Earth. But looks can be deceiving. New evidence suggests that the Helix consists of two gaseous disks nearly perpendicular to each other.
From the Daily Telegraph, Friday 31/08/07. This is the death of a single star, captured by NASA's Spitzer Telescope in California.
The gases have spread over six light years, and astronomers have taken to calling the sight the "Eye of God".
The centre, by the way, is known as the Helix Nebula, apparently.
Edited Spitzer Space Telescope image of the Helix Nebula. Color/processing variant.
Original caption: A dying star is throwing a cosmic tantrum in this combined image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX), which NASA has lent to the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. In death, the star's dusty outer layers are unraveling into space, glowing from the intense ultraviolet radiation being pumped out by the hot stellar core.
This object, called the Helix nebula, lies 650 light-years away, in the constellation of Aquarius. Also known by the catalog number NGC 7293, it is a typical example of a class of objects called planetary nebulae. Discovered in the 18th century, these cosmic works of art were erroneously named for their resemblance to gas-giant planets.
Planetary nebulae are actually the remains of stars that once looked a lot like our sun. These stars spend most of their lives turning hydrogen into helium in massive runaway nuclear fusion reactions in their cores. In fact, this process of fusion provides all the light and heat that we get from our sun. Our sun will blossom into a planetary nebula when it dies in about five billion years.
When the hydrogen fuel for the fusion reaction runs out, the star turns to helium for a fuel source, burning it into an even heavier mix of carbon, nitrogen and oxygen. Eventually, the helium will also be exhausted, and the star dies, puffing off its outer gaseous layers and leaving behind the tiny, hot, dense core, called a white dwarf. The white dwarf is about the size of Earth, but has a mass very close to that of the original star; in fact, a teaspoon of a white dwarf would weigh as much as a few elephants!
The glow from planetary nebulae is particularly intriguing as it appears surprisingly similar across a broad swath of the spectrum, from ultraviolet to infrared. The Helix remains recognizable at any of these wavelengths, but the combination shown here highlights some subtle differences.
The intense ultraviolet radiation from the white dwarf heats up the expelled lay
Ölen yıldızın sıcak çekirdeğinden saçılan yoğun morötesi ışıma, yıldızın çevresindeki tozlu katmanları aydınlatıyor. Bu nesne Helis Bulutsusu (Helix Nebula) olarak bilinir. Kova takımyıldızında ve 650 ışık yılı uzağımızda yer alan gezegenimsi bulutsu sınıfına ait nesne NGC 7293 koduyla da tanınır.
This colour-composite image of the Helix Nebula (NGC 7293) was created from images obtained using the the Wide Field Imager (WFI), an astronomical camera attached to the 2.2-metre Max-Planck Society/ESO telescope at the La Silla observatory in Chile. The blue-green glow in the centre of the Helix comes from oxygen atoms shining under effects of the intense ultraviolet radiation of the 120 000 degree Celsius central star and the hot gas. Further out from the star and beyond the ring of knots, the red colour from hydrogen and nitrogen is more prominent. A careful look at the central part of this object reveals not only the knots, but also many remote galaxies seen right through the thinly spread glowing gas.This image was created from images through blue, green and red filters and the total exposure times were 12 minutes, 9 minutes and 7 minutes respectively. This image is available as a mounted image in the ESOshop. #L
A dying star is throwing a cosmic tantrum in this combined image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX), which NASA has lent to the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. In death, the star's dusty outer layers are unraveling into space, glowing from the intense ultraviolet radiation being pumped out by the hot stellar core. .
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This object, called the Helix nebula, lies 650 light-years away, in the constellation of Aquarius. Also known by the catalog number NGC 7293, it is a typical example of a class of objects called planetary nebulae. Discovered in the 18th century, these cosmic works of art were erroneously named for their resemblance to gas-giant planets. .
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Planetary nebulae are actually the remains of stars that once looked a lot like our sun. These stars spend most of their lives turning hydrogen into helium in massive runaway nuclear fusion reactions in their cores. In fact, this process of fusion provides all the light and heat that we get from our sun. Our sun will blossom into a planetary nebula when it dies in about five billion years..
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When the hydrogen fuel for the fusion reaction runs out, the star turns to helium for a fuel source, burning it into an even heavier mix of carbon, nitrogen and oxygen. Eventually, the helium will also be exhausted, and the star dies, puffing off its outer gaseous layers and leaving behind the tiny, hot, dense core, called a white dwarf. The white dwarf is about the size of Earth, but has a mass very close to that of the original star; in fact, a teaspoon of a white dwarf would weigh as much as a few elephants!.
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The glow from planetary nebulae is particularly intriguing as it appears surprisingly similar across a broad swath of the spectrum, from ultraviolet to infrared. The Helix remains recognizable at any of these wavelengths, but the combination shown here highlights some subtle differences..
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The intense ultraviolet radiation from the white dwarf heats up the expelled layers of gas, which shine brightly in the infrared. GALEX has picked out the ultraviolet light pouring out of this system, shown throughout the nebula in blue, while Spitzer has snagged the detailed infrared signature of the dust and gas in yellow A portion of the extended field beyond the nebula, which was not observed by Spitzer, is from NASA's all-sky Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). The white dwarf star itself is a tiny white pinprick right at the center of the nebula..
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The brighter purple circle in the very center is the combined ultraviolet and infrared glow of a dusty disk circling the white dwarf (the disk itself is too small to be resolved). This dust was most likely kicked up by comets that survived the death of their star. .
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Before the star died, its comets, and possibly planets, would have orbited the star in an orderly fashion. When the star ran out of hydrogen to burn, and blew off its outer layers, the icy bodies and outer planets would have been tossed about and into each other, kicking up an ongoing cosmic dust storm. Any inner planets in the system would have burned up or been swallowed as their dying star expanded..
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Infrared data from Spitzer for the central nebula is rendered in green (wavelengths of 3.6 to 4.5 microns) and red (8 to 24 microns), with WISE data covering the outer areas in green (3.4 to 4.5 microns) and red (12 to 22 microns). Ultraviolet data from GALEX appears as blue (0.15 to 2.3 microns).
After a super long streak of cloudy nights I could finally manage to go imaging again.
This was a difficult target, as it only rises to a maximum of 20° altitude here. A more deep integration would be interesting to reveal more of the outer shells, but not feasible with that low altitude.
28x180s Ha
28x180s Oiii
28x180s Sii
Helix Nebula (NGC7293)
A composite of 59xL forty five second exposures and 15xR 17xG 17xB sixty second exposures thru my Orion 80mm Short Tube telescope using my Meade DSI Pro imager. The individual captures were calibrated using bias frames, dark frames and flat frames and then stacked and processed using Stark Labs' nebulosity and Adobe's Photoshop software. The telescope was guided during the exposures by a Meade LX200 telescope with a Meade DSI imager driven by Stark Lab's PHD autoguiding software. All light frames were taken through a set of Meade LRGB CCD filters. Light frames were imaged on October 31, 2008 between 7:54 PM and 10:00PM near Ellenville, NY. The total exposure was 93 minutes.
---Photo details----
Stacks : 25x300sec
Exposure Time : 2h 5min
Stack program : Maxim DL v5
Stack mode : Sigma clip
Post processing : MaximDL v5 and Photoshop CS5
---Photo scope---
Camera : Atik 460EX
CCD Temperature : -5 Celsius
Filter used:
- Astrodon 5nm OIII 36mm unmounted
Tube : Skywatcher StarTravel-102
Type : Refractor
Focal length : 500 mm
Aperture : F/4.9
---Guide scope---
Camera : Starlight Xpress Lodestar
Guide exposure : 1 sec
Starlight Xpress Off Axis Guider
---Mount and other stuff---
Mount : Skywatcher NEQ-6
Filter wheel : Starlight Xpress
---Image details---
Objects
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Source : dso-browser.com/
Edited Chandra Space Telescope and Hubble Space Telescope image of the Helix Nebula.
Image source: www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/chandra/news/nasas-chandra-ope...
Original caption: When a star like the Sun runs out of fuel, it expands and its outer layers puff off, and then the core of the star shrinks. This phase is known as a "planetary nebula," and astronomers expect our Sun will experience this in about 5 billion years. This Helix Nebula images contains infrared data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope (green and red), optical light from Hubble (orange and blue), ultraviolet from NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer (cyan), and Chandra's X-rays (appearing as white) showing the white dwarf star that formed in the center of the nebula. The image is about four light years across.
Edited European Southern Observatory image of the Helix Nebula. Color/processing variant.
Original caption: ESO's Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) has captured this unusual view of the Helix Nebula (NGC 7293), a planetary nebula located 700 light-years away. The coloured picture was created from images taken through Y, J and K infrared filters. While bringing to light a rich background of stars and galaxies, the telescope's infrared vision also reveals strands of cold nebular gas that are mostly obscured in visible images of the Helix.
This infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows the Helix nebula, a cosmic starlet often photographed by amateur astronomers for its vivid colors and eerie resemblance to a giant eye.
The nebula, located about 700 light-years away in the constellation Aquarius, belongs to a class of objects called planetary nebulae. Discovered in the 18th century, these cosmic butterflies were named for their resemblance to gas-giant planets.
Planetary nebulae are actually the remains of stars that once looked a lot like our sun.
When sun-like stars die, they puff out their outer gaseous layers. These layers are heated by the hot core of the dead star, called a white dwarf, and shine with infrared and visible-light colors. Our own sun will blossom into a planetary nebula when it dies in about five billion years.
In Spitzer's infrared view of the Helix nebula, the eye looks more like that of a green monster's. Infrared light from the outer gaseous layers is represented in blues and greens. The white dwarf is visible as a tiny white dot in the center of the picture. The red color in the middle of the eye denotes the final layers of gas blown out when the star died.
The brighter red circle in the very center is the glow of a dusty disk circling the white dwarf (the disk itself is too small to be resolved). This dust, discovered by Spitzer's infrared heat-seeking vision, was most likely kicked up by comets that survived the death of their star. Before the star died, its comets and possibly planets would have orbited the star in an orderly fashion. But when the star blew off its outer layers, the icy bodies and outer planets would have been tossed about and into each other, resulting in an ongoing cosmic dust storm. Any inner planets in the system would have burned up or been swallowed as their dying star expanded.
The Helix nebula is one of only a few dead-star systems in which evidence for comet survivors has been found.
This image is made up of data from Spitzer's infrared array camera and multiband imaging photometer. Blue shows infrared light of 3.6 to 4.5 microns; green shows infrared light of 5.8 to 8 microns; and red shows infrared light of 24 microns.
Helix Nebula after processing, see previous image in photostream for appearance before processing, very dim. Total exposure was 30 minutes at ISO 3200.
No darks, flats, or bias were used here. Cropped.
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Equipment: Celestron CGEM unguided mount with Meade SN-6 and unmodified Canon T1i
ps- this capture is why there is a break in my Comet movie ( www.flickr.com/photos/edhiker/5073133251/ )
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Helix Stacked Rot CrCG-R 1024 ... IMG_6787-6816 =30
️✨ The Helix Nebula – The Eye of the Universe 🌌🔭
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Staring back at us from 650 light-years away, the Helix Nebula (NGC 7293) is one of the closest and most detailed planetary nebulae ever observed. Often called the "Eye of God", this cosmic wonder is the final breath of a dying star, shedding its outer layers into space and creating this mesmerizing structure.
📍 Constellation: Aquarius ♒
✨ Distance from Earth: ~650 light-years
📏 Size: ~2.5 light-years across
🔭 Apparent Magnitude: +7.6
📡 Coordinates (J2000):
Right Ascension: 22h 29m 38.55s
Declination: -20° 50′ 13.6″
💡 Interesting Facts:
The central white dwarf, the remnant core of the original star, will eventually cool over billions of years.
The nebula’s complex structure is shaped by strong stellar winds and radiation.
It was one of the first planetary nebulae discovered to contain cometary knots, dense clumps of gas each about the size of our solar system!
Despite its ghostly appearance, this nebula is expanding at a rate of 31 km/s!
A cosmic farewell that reminds us of the cyclical nature of the universe. What do you see in this celestial eye? ️✨
Lights: 48x600 (LRGB)
Telescope: Planewave CDK24
Camera: FLI ProLine PL9000
Filters: Astrodon
Processed: Pixinsight
Date: 31/08/2022
ESO's Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) has captured this unusual view of the Helix Nebula (NGC 7293), a planetary nebula located 700 light-years away. The coloured picture was created from images taken through Y, J and K infrared filters. While bringing to light a rich background of stars and galaxies, the telescope's infrared vision also reveals strands of cold nebular gas that are mostly obscured in visible images of the Helix.
Edited Spitzer Space Telescope image of the Helix Nebula. Inverted grayscale variant.
Original caption: A newly expanded image of the Helix nebula lends a festive touch to the fourth anniversary of the launch of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. This spectacular object, a dying star unraveling into space, is a favorite of amateur and professional astronomers alike. Spitzer has mapped the expansive outer structure of the six-light-year-wide nebula, and probed the inner region around the central dead star to reveal what appears to be a planetary system that survived the star's chaotic death throes.
Esta imagen infrarroja del telescopio Spitzer de la NASA muestra la nebulosa Helix, una estrella cósmica a menudo fotografiado por astrónomos aficionados por sus colores vivos y una extraña semejanza con un ojo gigante.
La nebulosa, situada a unos 700 años luz de distancia en la constelación de Acuario, pertenece a una clase de objetos llamados nebulosas planetarias. Descubierto en el siglo 18, estas mariposas cósmicos fueron llamados así por su parecido con los planetas gigantes gaseosos.
This infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows the Helix nebula, a cosmic starlet often photographed by amateur astronomers for its vivid colors and eerie resemblance to a giant eye.
The nebula, located about 700 light-years away in the constellation Aquarius, belongs to a class of objects called planetary nebulae. Discovered in the 18th century, these cosmic butterflies were named for their resemblance to gas-giant planets.
Planetary nebulae are actually the remains of stars that once looked a lot like our sun.
When sun-like stars die, they puff out their outer gaseous layers. These layers are heated by the hot core of the dead star, called a white dwarf, and shine with infrared and visible-light colors. Our own sun will blossom into a planetary nebula when it dies in about five billion years.
In Spitzer's infrared view of the Helix nebula, the eye looks more like that of a green monster's. Infrared light from the outer gaseous layers is represented in blues and greens. The white dwarf is visible as a tiny white dot in the center of the picture. The red color in the middle of the eye denotes the final layers of gas blown out when the star died.
The brighter red circle in the very center is the glow of a dusty disk circling the white dwarf (the disk itself is too small to be resolved). This dust, discovered by Spitzer's infrared heat-seeking vision, was most likely kicked up by comets that survived the death of their star. Before the star died, its comets and possibly planets would have orbited the star in an orderly fashion. But when the star blew off its outer layers, the icy bodies and outer planets would have been tossed about and into each other, resulting in an ongoing cosmic dust storm. Any inner planets in the system would have burned up or been swallowed as their dying star expanded.
The Helix nebula is one of only a few dead-star systems in which evidence for comet survivors has been found.
This image is made up of data from Spitzer's infrared array camera and multiband imaging photometer. Blue shows infrared light of 3.6 to 4.5 microns; green shows infrared light of 5.8 to 8 microns; and red shows infrared light of 24 microns.
A newly expanded image of the Helix nebula lends a festive touch to the fourth anniversary of the launch of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. This spectacular object, a dying star unraveling into space, is a favorite of amateur and professional astronomers alike. Spitzer has mapped the expansive outer structure of the six-light-year-wide nebula, and probed the inner region around the central dead star to reveal what appears to be a planetary system that survived the star's chaotic death throes.
ESO's Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) has captured this unusual view of the Helix Nebula (NGC 7293), a planetary nebula located 700 light-years away. The coloured picture was created from images taken through Y, J and K infrared filters. While bringing to light a rich background of stars and galaxies, the telescope's infrared vision also reveals strands of cold nebular gas that are mostly obscured in visible images of the Helix.
ESO's Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) has captured this unusual view of the Helix Nebula (NGC 7293), a planetary nebula located 700 light-years away. The coloured picture was created from images taken through Y, J and K infrared filters. While bringing to light a rich background of stars and galaxies, the telescope's infrared vision also reveals strands of cold nebular gas that are mostly obscured in visible images of the Helix.
Nebulosa de la Hélice (NGC 7293)
Magnitud de 7.6 y de alguna forma muy difícil de encontrar y procesar desde cielos del conurbano.
2hs 23 minutos de exposición total con fotos de 30 segundos a ISO800.
Se encuentra a 518.7 años-luz
Es un ejemplo de nebulosa planetaria formada por una estrella similar al Sol en los últimos estados de su vida.
La estrella remanente es una enana blanca.
La edad de la nebulosa se estima en unos 10.600 años aproximadamente.
Equipo: EQ3+Evostar 72+Canon T2i
The Helix Nebula is a planetary nebula in Aquarius. while at the CTIO 4 meter telescope using NEWFIRM we were between science targets we took a quick couple of images in the near infrared. The RGB image consists of K-band (2.1 microns), H-band (1.6 microns), and J-band (1.25 microns). Beyond the cool planetary nebula, I'm always amazed at just how many galaxies pop out in the background of images like this after only a few seconds of integration time.
Helix nebula in Hydrogen alpha
Optimum subframe test from the backyard: 130 minutes total exposure integration, 300sec subs
Corrected MetalBack distance for extenderQ
Improved data reduction: finally sorted my hot pixel issue : )
Imaging: STL-4020M -20C: Bin 1x1: FSQ106N with 1.6X extenderQ ( f8 )
Guiding: RGH: Bin 2x2: FCL-90II f5.56
Mount: NJP Temma2
Camera control: Equinox Image
Targeting: The Sky X
Reduction: Maxim/DL, PS CS6
This infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows the Helix nebula, a cosmic starlet often photographed by amateur astronomers for its vivid colors and eerie resemblance to a giant eye.
The nebula, located about 700 light-years away in the constellation Aquarius, belongs to a class of objects called planetary nebulae. Discovered in the 18th century, these cosmic butterflies were named for their resemblance to gas-giant planets.
Planetary nebulae are actually the remains of stars that once looked a lot like our sun.
When sun-like stars die, they puff out their outer gaseous layers. These layers are heated by the hot core of the dead star, called a white dwarf, and shine with infrared and visible-light colors. Our own sun will blossom into a planetary nebula when it dies in about five billion years.
In Spitzer's infrared view of the Helix nebula, the eye looks more like that of a green monster's. Infrared light from the outer gaseous layers is represented in blues and greens. The white dwarf is visible as a tiny white dot in the center of the picture. The red color in the middle of the eye denotes the final layers of gas blown out when the star died.
The brighter red circle in the very center is the glow of a dusty disk circling the white dwarf (the disk itself is too small to be resolved). This dust, discovered by Spitzer's infrared heat-seeking vision, was most likely kicked up by comets that survived the death of their star. Before the star died, its comets and possibly planets would have orbited the star in an orderly fashion. But when the star blew off its outer layers, the icy bodies and outer planets would have been tossed about and into each other, resulting in an ongoing cosmic dust storm. Any inner planets in the system would have burned up or been swallowed as their dying star expanded.
The Helix nebula is one of only a few dead-star systems in which evidence for comet survivors has been found.
This image is made up of data from Spitzer's infrared array camera and multiband imaging photometer. Blue shows infrared light of 3.6 to 4.5 microns; green shows infrared light of 5.8 to 8 microns; and red shows infrared light of 24 microns.
This comparison shows a new view of the Helix Nebula acquired with the VISTA telescope in infrared light (left) and the more familiar view in visible light from the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope (right). The infrared vision of VISTA reveals strands of cold nebular gas that are mostly obscured in visible light images of the Helix.
First target from Okie-Tex this past week. I was able to image 2 targets per night over multiple nights. Had some PC problems and slight breezes affects my system so had some issues with tracking hence it took 3 nights for this target. 27 x 5min subs. DSLR is not cooled which I think would have helped this set. Even though the nights were cool, colder is better. Stacked in Nebulosity. First time to process primarily in Photoshop.
Orion 190mm Mak-Newt
iEQ45
Canon 60D (modified)
Orion 80mm short tube w/ SSAG
This infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows the Helix nebula, a cosmic starlet often photographed by amateur astronomers for its vivid colors and eerie resemblance to a giant eye.
The nebula, located about 700 light-years away in the constellation Aquarius, belongs to a class of objects called planetary nebulae. Discovered in the 18th century, these cosmic butterflies were named for their resemblance to gas-giant planets.
Planetary nebulae are actually the remains of stars that once looked a lot like our sun.
When sun-like stars die, they puff out their outer gaseous layers. These layers are heated by the hot core of the dead star, called a white dwarf, and shine with infrared and visible-light colors. Our own sun will blossom into a planetary nebula when it dies in about five billion years.
In Spitzer's infrared view of the Helix nebula, the eye looks more like that of a green monster's. Infrared light from the outer gaseous layers is represented in blues and greens. The white dwarf is visible as a tiny white dot in the center of the picture. The red color in the middle of the eye denotes the final layers of gas blown out when the star died.
The brighter red circle in the very center is the glow of a dusty disk circling the white dwarf (the disk itself is too small to be resolved). This dust, discovered by Spitzer's infrared heat-seeking vision, was most likely kicked up by comets that survived the death of their star. Before the star died, its comets and possibly planets would have orbited the star in an orderly fashion. But when the star blew off its outer layers, the icy bodies and outer planets would have been tossed about and into each other, resulting in an ongoing cosmic dust storm. Any inner planets in the system would have burned up or been swallowed as their dying star expanded.
The Helix nebula is one of only a few dead-star systems in which evidence for comet survivors has been found.
This image is made up of data from Spitzer's infrared array camera and multiband imaging photometer. Blue shows infrared light of 3.6 to 4.5 microns; green shows infrared light of 5.8 to 8 microns; and red shows infrared light of 24 microns.
Edited European Southern Observatory image of the Helix Nebula. Color/processing variant.
Original caption: ESO's Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) has captured this unusual view of the Helix Nebula (NGC 7293), a planetary nebula located 700 light-years away. The coloured picture was created from images taken through Y, J and K infrared filters. While bringing to light a rich background of stars and galaxies, the telescope's infrared vision also reveals strands of cold nebular gas that are mostly obscured in visible images of the Helix.
Using layer blending , the clone tool, and appropriated images from the Hubble telescope (tarantula nebula, helix nebula), as well as two images of my boyfriend's eye; I created a portrait of sorts..
Edited Chandra Space Telescope and Hubble Space Telescope image of the Helix Nebula. Color/processing variant.
Image source: www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/chandra/news/nasas-chandra-ope...
Original caption: When a star like the Sun runs out of fuel, it expands and its outer layers puff off, and then the core of the star shrinks. This phase is known as a "planetary nebula," and astronomers expect our Sun will experience this in about 5 billion years. This Helix Nebula images contains infrared data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope (green and red), optical light from Hubble (orange and blue), ultraviolet from NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer (cyan), and Chandra's X-rays (appearing as white) showing the white dwarf star that formed in the center of the nebula. The image is about four light years across.
These gigantic, tadpole-shaped objects are probably the result of a dying star's last gasps. Dubbed "cometary knots" because their glowing heads and gossamer tails resemble comets, the gaseous objects probably were formed during a star's final stages of life. Hubble astronomer C. Robert O'Dell and graduate student Kerry P. Handron of Rice University in Houston, Texas discovered thousands of these knots with the Hubble Space Telescope while exploring the Helix nebula, the closest planetary nebula to Earth at 450 light-years away in the constellation Aquarius. Although ground-based telescopes have revealed such objects, astronomers have never seen so many of them. The most visible knots all lie along the inner edge of the doomed star's ring, trillions of miles away from the star's nucleus. Although these gaseous knots appear small, they're actually huge. Each gaseous head is at least twice the size of our solar system; each tail stretches for 100 billion miles, about 1,000 times the distance between the Earth and the Sun. Astronomers theorize that the doomed star spews hot, lower-density gas from its surface, which collides with cooler, higher-density gas that had been ejected 10,000 years before. The crash fragments the smooth cloud surrounding the star into smaller, denser finger-like droplets, like dripping paint. This image was taken in August, 1994 with Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2. The red light depicts nitrogen emission ([NII] 6584A); green, hydrogen (H-alpha, 6563A); and blue, oxygen (5007A).