              APOD: 2018 January 3 - The Helix Nebula from CFHT

                         Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! [1] Each day a different image or photograph of our
 fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a
                           professional astronomer.

                                2018 January 3
                                      [2]
                          The Helix Nebula from CFHT
Image Credit: CFHT [3] , Coelum [4] , MegaCam [5] , J.-C. Cuillandre [6] (CFHT
                    [7] ) & G. A. Anselmi [8] (Coelum [9] )

Explanation: Will our Sun look like this one day? The Helix Nebula [10]  is
one of brightest and closest examples of a planetary nebula [11] , a gas cloud
created [12]  at the end of the life of a Sun-like star. The outer gasses of
the star expelled into space [13]  appear from our vantage point as if we are
looking down a helix [14] . The remnant central stellar core, destined to
become a white dwarf star [15] , glows in light so energetic [16] it causes
the previously expelled gas to fluoresce [17] . The Helix Nebula [18] , given
a technical designation of NGC 7293 [19] , lies about 700 light-years [20]
away towards the constellation [21]  of the Water Bearer ( Aquarius [22] ) and
spans about 2.5 light-years. The featured picture [23]  was taken with the
Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope [24]  (CFHT) located atop a dormant volcano in
Hawaii [25] , USA [26] . A close-up [27]  of the inner edge [28]  of the Helix
Nebula [29]  shows complex gas knots of unknown origin [30] .

         Free APOD Lectures: January 5 in NYC & January 9 in DC [31]
                      Tomorrow's picture: open space [32]

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Site notes:
  [1] archivepix.html
  [2] image/1801/Helix_CFHT_2000.jpg
  [3] http://www.cfht.hawaii.edu/
  [4] http://www.coelum.com/
  [5] http://www.cfht.hawaii.edu/Instruments/Imaging/Megacam/
  [6] http://www.cfht.hawaii.edu/~jcc/
  [7] http://www.cfht.hawaii.edu/
  [8] http://www.coelum.com/coelum/autori/giovanni-anselmi
  [9] http://www.coelum.com/
  [10] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helix_Nebula
  [11] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetary_nebula
  [12] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXNSYo8ZdoU
  [13] ap171231.html
  [14] http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Helix.html
  [15] http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/know_l2/dwarfs.html
  [16] https://science.nasa.gov/ems/10_ultravioletwaves
  [17] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvN8zFhWn04
  [18] http://www.messier.seds.org/xtra/ngc/n7293.html
  [19] ap041229.html
  [20] http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/cosmic_distance.html
  [21] https://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/questions/question9.html
  [22] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquarius_(constellation)
  [23]
http://www.cfht.hawaii.edu/HawaiianStarlight/AIOM/English/
CFHT-Coelum-AIOM-Mar2017.html
  [24] http://www.cfht.hawaii.edu/en/about/
  [25]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaii#/media/
File:Hawaii_in_United_States_(zoom)_(US50)_(-grid).svg
  [26] https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html
  [27] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwAKNMC2PeM
  [28] ap080413.html
  [29] http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/2003/11/fastfacts
  [30] http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2002ApJ...573L..55H
  [31] http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=37750
  [32] ap180104.html
  [33] ap180102.html
  [34] archivepix.html
  [35] lib/apsubmit2015.html
  [36] lib/aptree.html
  [37] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  [38] calendar/allyears.html
  [39] /apod.rss
  [40] lib/edlinks.html
  [41] lib/about_apod.html
  [42] http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=180103
  [43] ap180104.html
  [44] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  [45] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  [46] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  [47] http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  [48] lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  [49] https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  [50] https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  [51] https://www.nasa.gov/
  [52] https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  [53] http://www.mtu.edu/
