--- title: "Astronomy Picture of the Day: 10/14/13 – The Helix Nebula in X-rays" description: "[caption id=\"attachment_7893\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"576\"] Credit: NASA, JPL, Caltech, Kate Su (Steward Obs., U. Arizona).[/caption] This is the Helix Nebula (Also known as NGC 7293 or colloquially as the Eye of God), it is about 650 light-years from Earth and is located in the constellation Aquarius.   The Helix Nebula in a planetary nebula and is..." date: "2013-10-14" modified: "2013-10-14" authors: - name: "Joshua Filmer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/joshuafqtq" url: "https://futurism.com/astronomy-picture-of-the-day-101413-the-helix-nebula-in-x-rays-2" categories: - "From Quarks to Quasars" --- # Astronomy Picture of the Day: 10/14/13 – The Helix Nebula in X-rays ![]() [![Credit: NASA, JPL, Caltech, Kate Su (Steward Obs., U. Arizona).]()]() *Credit: NASA, JPL, Caltech, Kate Su (Steward Obs., U. Arizona).* This is the Helix Nebula (Also known as NGC 7293 or colloquially as the Eye of God), it is about 650 light-years from Earth and is located in the constellation Aquarius. The Helix Nebula in a planetary nebula and is one of the closest and brightest such nebulae to Earth – it is estimated to be about 11,000 years old. This represents an important stage in evolution and in about 5-billion years, [our own Sun can be expected]() to form a nebula very similar to this. This image is a false-color composite of a survey done by two different telescopes, GALEX (which is colored blue) and Spitze (which is colored yellow); in addition, NASA’s WISE telescope provided some of the background space. At the center of the nebula, you can see a tiny white dot. This is the white dwarf left behind after the star ejected its outer shell. Good luck finding it though, I count about a dozen little dots near the center visible from this particular angle. ## Author Joshua specializes in Mathematics and Physics at Portland State University.