Posted on 01/10/2014 5:31:50 PM PST by SunkenCiv
Explanation: A mere seven hundred light years from Earth, in the constellation Aquarius, a sun-like star is dying. Its last few thousand years have produced the Helix Nebula (NGC 7293), a well studied and nearby example of a Planetary Nebula, typical of this final phase of stellar evolution. A total of 28.5 hours of exposure time have gone in to creating this deep view of the nebula. Combining narrow band image data from emission lines of hydrogen atoms in red and oxygen atoms in blue-green hues, it shows remarkable details of the Helix's brighter inner region, about 3 light-years across, but also follows fainter outer halo features that give the nebula a span of well over six light-years. The white dot at the Helix's center is this Planetary Nebula's hot, central star. A simple looking nebula at first glance, the Helix is now understood to have a surprisingly complex geometry.
(Excerpt) Read more at 129.164.179.22 ...
[Credit & Copyright: Don Goldman]
New series premiering on SyFy tonight called Helix.
Interesting juxtaposition of APOD`s from today & yesterday ... Can you say "stellar nursery"?
For anyone who doesn't know, a light year is the DISTANCE light travels in a year at light speed (186,000 miles per second). It works out to about 5.9 TRILLION miles.
At a dollar per mile, that's only one-third the national debt...
Realizing how small we really are.
WOW, that is EXACTLY what all lights seen at night look like through the cataracts in my right eye.
Maybe I don’t have cataracts, just super telescopic astronomers vision.....?
Then again, maybe not.
I am the eye in the sky
Looking at you
I can read your mind
I am the maker of rules
Dealing with fools
I can cheat you blind
And I don’t need to see any more
To know that
I can read your mind, I can read your mind
:’)
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