The Helix Nebula (NGC 7293, C63) lies in Aquarius and, at about 650 light years, is one of the closest planetary nebulae to the Solar System. That is also why it looks so large: nearly half a degree of sky, the size of the full Moon.
What looks like an eye is really a shell of gas seen almost face-on, expelled by a dying star that is now the white dwarf at the centre. The inner blue-green comes from ionised oxygen, the red ring from hydrogen and nitrogen. Along the inner rim, thousands of "cometary knots" all point towards the centre: globules of dense gas the size of the Solar System, sculpted by the star's radiation.
The result of 6 nights of acquisition, 14.65 hours of signal, to collect the faint inner nebulosity from a city sky.
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