Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Aquarius (Aqr)  ·  Contains:  Helix nebula  ·  NGC 7293

Image of the day 03/16/2019

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    The Helix Nebula, Terry Robison
    The Helix Nebula
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    The Helix Nebula

    Image of the day 03/16/2019

    Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
      The Helix Nebula, Terry Robison
      The Helix Nebula
      Powered byPixInsight

      The Helix Nebula

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      Description

      This beautiful large planetary nebula is located in the constellation Aquarius. The Helix Nebula is approximately 695 light years from Earth and presents a fairly large target, almost one-half the diameter of the moon.

      My intent was to merge both traditional RGB and Narrowband into a hybrid image using 6 filters to reveal three things. The first included the amazing cometary knots extending away from the central star in a radial direction. Their scale is simply amazing as most are believed to be about the size of our solar system.

      The second stems from my fascination with galaxies. I wanted to reveal the many galaxies located both within the core and throughout the outer halo extending away from the Planetary Nebula.

      The final goal was to retain the lovely teal colour of the core and reveal the beautiful colours in the stars surrounding NGC 7293 including the bluish central star. The rare teal colour found in planetary nebula can often be removed during imaging processing.

      My intent was to reveal the many details and features within this wonderful object, accentuating both depth and contrast.

      The total time for this image is around 64 hours.

      Thanks for looking.

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