﻿ Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2023 May 7 [2]A colorful circular nebula is shown that is beige in the center, red further out, and gas violet rings even further out. Please see the explanation for more detailed information. The Helix Nebula from CFHT Image Credit: [3]CFHT, [4]Coelum, [5]MegaCam, [6]J.-C. Cuillandre ([7]CFHT) & [8]G. A. Anselmi ([9]Coelum) Explanation: Will our Sun look like this one day? The [10]Helix Nebula is one of brightest and closest examples of a [11]planetary nebula, a gas [12]cloud created at the end of the life of a Sun-like star. The outer gasses of the star [13]expelled into space appear from our vantage point as if we are looking down a [14]helix. The remnant central stellar core, destined to become a [15]white dwarf star, glows in light so [16]energetic it causes the previously expelled gas to [17]fluoresce. The [18]Helix Nebula, given a technical designation of [19]NGC 7293, lies about 700 [20]light-years away towards the [21]constellation of the Water Bearer ([22]Aquarius) and spans about 2.5 light-years. The [23]featured picture was taken with the [24]Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) located atop a [25]dormant volcano in [26]Hawaii, [27]USA. A [28]close-up of the [29]inner edge of the [30]Helix Nebula shows complex gas knots of [31]unknown origin. Tomorrow's picture: dancing galaxy __________________________________________________________________ [32]< | [33]Archive | [34]Submissions | [35]Index | [36]Search | [37]Calendar | [38]RSS | [39]Education | [40]About APOD | [41]Discuss | [42]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [43]Robert Nemiroff ([44]MTU) & [45]Jerry Bonnell ([46]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [47]Specific rights apply. [48]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [49]ASD at [50]NASA / [51]GSFC, [52]NASA Science Activation & [53]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2305/Helix2_CFHT_1917.jpg 3. https://www.cfht.hawaii.edu/ 4. https://www.coelum.com/ 5. https://www.cfht.hawaii.edu/Instruments/Imaging/Megacam/ 6. https://www.cfht.hawaii.edu/~jcc/ 7. http://www.cfht.hawaii.edu/ 8. https://www.coelum.com/coelum/autori/giovanni-anselmi 9. http://www.coelum.com/ 10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helix_Nebula 11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetary_nebula 12. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXNSYo8ZdoU 13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200209.html 14. https://mathworld.wolfram.com/Helix.html 15. https://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/science/objects/dwarfs2.html 16. https://science.nasa.gov/ems/10_ultravioletwaves 17. https://youtu.be/maniMjcvS7M 18. http://www.messier.seds.org/xtra/ngc/n7293.html 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap041229.html 20. https://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/cosmic_distance.html 21. https://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/questions/question9.html 22. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquarius_(constellation) 23. https://www.cfht.hawaii.edu/HawaiianStarlight/AIOM/English/CFHT-Coelum-AIOM-Mar2017.html 24. https://www.cfht.hawaii.edu/en/about/ 25. https://d.newsweek.com/en/full/2189295/cat-sleeps-hilarious-position.webp?w=790&f=ec34c52c69823215278d8530cb8eeaf3 26. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaii#/media/File:Hawaii_in_United_States_(zoom)_(US50)_(-grid).svg 27. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States 28. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwAKNMC2PeM 29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080413.html 30. https://hubblesite.org/contents/media/products/01ECM7VDHPRDMC73331VG00T60.html 31. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2002ApJ...573L..55H/abstract 32. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230506.html 33. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 34. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 35. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 36. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 37. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 38. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 39. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 40. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 41. https://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=230507 42. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230508.html 43. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 44. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 45. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 46. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 47. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 48. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 49. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 50. https://www.nasa.gov/ 51. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 52. https://science.nasa.gov/learners 53. http://www.mtu.edu/