Helix Nebula Detail
This cropped version of the Helix Nebula mosaic shows cometary-filaments embedded along a portion of the inner rim of the nebula's red and blue gas ring. At a distance of 650 light-years, the Helix is one of the nearest planetary nebulae to Earth.
The composite picture is a seamless blend of ultra-sharp NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Advanced Camera for Surveys images combined with the wide view of the Mosaic Camera on the National Science Foundation's 0.9-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory, part of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory, near Tucson, Ariz. Astronomers at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) assembled the images into a mosaic. The mosaic was blended with a wider photograph taken by the Mosaic Camera.
Credit:
About the Image
| Id: | heic0307b |
| Type: | Observation |
| Release date: | 9 May 2003, 15:00 |
| Related releases: | heic0307 |
| Size: | 2999 x 2399 px |
About the Object
| Name: | Helix Nebula, Messier 57, NGC 7293 |
| Type: | • Milky Way : Nebula : Type : Planetary |
| Distance: | 2500 light years |
Colours & filters
| Band | Wavelength | Telescope |
| Optical Oiii |
502 nm | Hubble Space Telescope ACS |
| Optical Pseudogreen |
Hubble Space Telescope ACS | |
| Optical H-alpha |
658 nm | Hubble Space Telescope ACS |
Notes: Additional information was contributed to this image by the National Science Foundation's 0.9-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory.
