The Helix Nebula is one of the nearest planetary nebulae, the glowing outer layers of a dying Sun-like star in Aquarius, seen almost face-on like a giant eye.
At a glance
| type | nebula |
|---|---|
| distance from the Sun | 649 light-years (199 pc) |
| its light left it | 649 years ago |
| size in the piece | about 1.5 light-years acrossmodel |
Read off the piece’s own catalogue, the same values it draws with. Model marks a property of the piece’s galaxy model rather than a measurement.
About Helix Nebula
At the end of its life a star like the Sun sheds its outer layers, and its exposed core, now a hot white dwarf, makes the expelled gas glow. The Helix is one of the closest examples, so large on the sky that it is easier to see with a wide field than with high magnification.
Close-up images show its inner edge lined with a multitude of small comet-shaped knots, dense clumps of gas with tails pointing away from the central star. Its rings of colour are glowing oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen, layered by how far each sits from the white dwarf.
What you see in the piece
Even at this scale it is tiny; fly to it and its central white dwarf sits in the middle of the glowing shell.
Questions
How far away is the Helix Nebula?
The Helix Nebula is about 649 light-years (199 pc) from the Sun.
What will happen to the Helix Nebula?
The shell will keep expanding and fading into interstellar space, while the white dwarf at its centre slowly cools.