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The Helix Nebula is a planetary nebula located some 650 lights years away toward the constellation Aquarius. This nebula is one of the closest planetary nebulae and spans more than 1/4 degree on the sky, or more than 1/2 of the diameter of the full Moon. This image was obtained by the Hubble Space Telescope during the Leonid meteor storm of November 2002, during which the telescope was parked pointing toward the Helix Nebula to protect its primary mirror from the Leonid meteoroids. In this image, blue light results from ionized Oxygen, and red light results from ionized Hydrogen and Nitrogen.
Image courtesy of Space Telescope Science Institute. |
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