The Helix Nebula | Hubble

The Helix Nebula | Hubble

This composite image is a view of the colorful Helix Nebula taken with the Advanced Camera for Surveys aboard NASA/European Space Agency Hubble Space Telescope and the Mosaic II Camera on the 4-meter telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. The object is so large that both telescopes were needed to capture a complete view. 

The Helix is a planetary nebula, the glowing gaseous envelope expelled by a dying, sun-like star. The Helix resembles a simple doughnut as seen from Earth. However, looks can be deceiving. New evidence suggests that the Helix consists of two gaseous disks nearly perpendicular to each other.

Credit: NASA, European Space Agency (ESA), C.R. O'Dell (Vanderbilt University), and M. Meixner, P. McCullough, and G. Bacon ( Space Telescope Science Institute)

Release Date: December 16, 2004

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