Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Aquarius (Aqr)  ·  Contains:  Helix nebula  ·  NGC 7293  ·  PK036-57.1
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NGC 7293 - The Helix Nebula, Michel Makhlouta
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NGC 7293 - The Helix Nebula

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
NGC 7293 - The Helix Nebula, Michel Makhlouta
Powered byPixInsight

NGC 7293 - The Helix Nebula

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Description

The Helix Nebula, aka the Eye of God, is a large planetary nebula located in the constellation Aquarius. This object is one of the closest to Earth of all the bright planetary nebulae, with a distance of 655 light-years.

This planetary nebula was formed by an intermediate to low-mass star, which sheds its outer layers near the end of its evolution. The remnant central stellar core, known as a planetary nebula nucleus or PNN, is destined to become a white dwarf star. The observed glow of the central star is so energetic that it causes the previously expelled gases to brightly fluoresce.

Our own star, the Sun, is expected to end up as a white dwarf and forming a planetary nebula. This is going to happen when its hydrogen fuel in its core is depleted, which is estimated to take place in 5 to 6 billion years.

Source: Wikipedia

This was imaged on the same nights as the Trifid, given the extra 2-3 hours after it got too low and to benefit from the rest of the night. This nebula doesn't rise above 35 degrees from my location, which made it a bit hard to capture with a poor performing mount, and very hard to process.

EDIT: I've mistakenly disabled comments on this image. Comments and feedback are, as usual, much appreciated.

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NGC 7293 - The Helix Nebula, Michel Makhlouta