The Helix Nebula | At a distance of 700 light years from Earth (an ephemeral trait when compared to the dimensions of the Universe), a star belonging to the constellation of the aquarium is dying. For some thousands of years, this terminal process linked to the red giant is helping to produce the splendid helix nebula (NGC 7293) or better known as the “Eye of God“.
It is one of the most spectacular examples and close to us of planetary nebula. The cloud of gas, which originated at the end of the life of a star similar to the Sun, extends for almost 2.5 light years and expands in space at the speed of 100 thousand kilometers per hour: it’s thanks to this fact that astronomers have been able to estimate the age, probably less than 10 thousand years.
The most detailed images at our disposal were made after 58 hours of infrared exposure and are the result of the work of the Visible Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA, Paranal Observatory, Chile) and the Hubble Space Telescope into Earth orbit.
It can be easily seen that its external gases are expelled into the surrounding space and appear, from our point of view, as a real helix. The central residue of the stellar core, destined to become a white dwarf, shines with a light so bright to make the gas previously expelled resembling a fluorescence.
Lascia un commento
Devi essere connesso per inviare un commento.