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Back Colliding Gas in the Helix Nebula

Colliding Gas in the Helix Nebula


Depicts: Helix Nebula, NGC 7293, IRAS 22267-2102
Copyright: Robert O'Dell, Kerry P. Handron (Rice University, Houston, Texas) and NASA

Hubble captured thousands of these knots from a doomed star in the Helix nebula, the closest planetary nebula to Earth at 450 light-years away in the constellation Aquarius.

Each gaseous head is at least twice the size of our solar system; each tail stretches 100 billion miles, about 1,000 times the Earth's distance to the Sun.

Last Update: 1 September 2019
10-Mar-2026 06:09 UT

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