There is a new view of a very old Nebula, thanks to the Hubble Telescope. A nebula is formed when a star that is like our own sun dies and glowing gas forms around the orb. The sun at the center of The Helix Nebula is destined to become a White Dwarf someday. As one of the closest nebulae to Earth, the Helix Nebula was discovered in the early 1800s.
The first photographs of the Helix Nebula have been captured by several telescopes, including NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, combined with the wide view of the Mosaic Camera on the National Science Foundation’s 0.9-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, Arizona. This view showed the blue “iris” shape, surrounded by white gas that formed the “white of the eye”, and a ring of red gas that was shaped like a human eye.
The Helix Nebula is actually a long tunnel that is estimated to be a trillion miles long. The photos that we see are of the end of that tunnel, which gives the incredible likeness that has been called “The Eye Of God”.
In January, 2012 The Mail Online reports that the European Southern Observatory (ESO) telescope at the Paranal Observatory in Chile captured a view in 2012 that showed the gas tendrils and background stars in more detail.
According to Science Daily,
“This picture, taken in infrared light, reveals strands of cold nebular gas that are invisible in images taken in visible light, as well as bringing to light a rich background of stars and galaxies.”
According to the ESO site, the central blue glow comes from oxygen atoms that shine when they are affected by the intense ultraviolet radiation of the 120 000 degree Celsius central star and the hot gas.” The red color is from hydrogen and nitrogen. The white part is from hydrogen knots. The new image shows the stars and galaxies that can now be seen through the thin and spreading gas components.
VISTA’s array of detectors are very sensitive to infrared light. This extra sensitivity allowed the 13 foot, 5.42 inch (4.1-meter) ESO telescope to detect an impressive array of background stars and galaxies as well as a much finer image of the structure that is in the nebula’s rings. The infrared light shows much more about the finer details and organization of the cooler, molecular gas.
And now, the “Eye of God” that once appeared to be so solid still has the clear formation that is like a human eye, but is revealed to be a composition of gas, gas knots, and physical reactions that formed into one of the most exciting visual images that have come from our nearest neighbors.
