The Helix Nebula, NGC 7293

The Helix Nebula, NGC 7293, is one of the closest and most well-studied planetary nebula to Earth, located in the constellation Aquarius. It’s often called the “Eye of God” due to its resemblance to a human eye when viewed in certain images.

A sun-like star is dying in the core of this nebula, producing this magnificent structure. Narrow band filters have been used to enhance the emissions produced in this phase of the stellar evolution. The resulting image also combines broadband data (R, G, B) to get a better color contrast of the image. Combining narrow band image data from emission lines of hydrogen atoms in red and oxygen atoms in blue makes it possible to show details of the Helix, including its bright inner region about 3 light-years across.

I captured this image during my visit to Namibia, Tivoli Astrofarm (Kalahari desert) last July 2024.

The full image shown above covers an area of 1º50′ x 2º20′ at a resolution of 2.59″/pixel.