This week were looking at an easy target, The Helix Nebula
Official name - NGC 7293
Distance from Earth - 714 light years (219 parsecs)
Radius - 2.87 light years
Apparent Magnitude (how bright it is) - +7.6
Location - Aquarius Constellation
Nickname - âEye of Godâ or âEye of Sauronâ -_-
If you ever get the feeling that someone or something is watching you, then your kinda right. This is what is known as a planetary nebulae, which are the remnant of a old dead star. Formerly a red giant which our sun is destined to become in about 4 œ billion years so we got a while. The little dot your seeing in the center is a white dwarf. whats left of the core of the original star.
It is interesting how the more you look at it the more it looks like a eye. Seriously stop reading and take a good 10 second look at it. itâs shaped like a cat eye but has the pupil of a human eye. I know itâs just in human nature to draw similarities in images i mean just look at the constellations. I mean have you seen Scorpio, looks nothing like a scorpion.
