Description
What will the Earth’s sun look like in a hundred million years? One of the brightest planetary nebulae in the Milky Way, the Helix Nebula is located approximately six hundred and fifty light years from Earth, and measures roughly 5.7 light years across. This gas cloud, with its luminosity of 76 times that of the Earth’s sun, can be seen in the Aquarius Constellation. First discovered at the Goettingen Observatory around 1824, Helix Nebula appeared, until recently, to be doughnut-shaped. When viewed using contemporary telescopy, however, the star’s outer gases give the beholder a sense of looking along a helix. Also thought to resemble an eye, it is from its striking appearance that this unique space object derives its name ‘Eye of God’. More recent studies offer new insights. The Helix, it is suggested, is made up of two gaseous disks which are believed to be perpendicular to one another.
The artist was drawn to the eye-like shape of the Helix Nebula, with its central star at the pupil and the swirling gas clouds radiating outwards like the iris. The outer red, yellow and orange colours adds a warm, ethereal glow, as if the nebula is gazing out into the cosmos. This striking appearance seems to encapsulate the name ‘Eye of God’, suggesting a divine presence watching over the universe.
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.