The Helix Nebula

What will our sun look like after it dies? Above is the picturesque Helix Nebula, sometimes referred to as ‘the Eye of God.’ A planetary nebula, such as the Helix, is the remnants of a dead star. At the center of this nebula lies a white dwarf, which is a small, hot, dense star, that’s so powerful, it’s the cause of the illumination of the surrounding gas. The green area around the center contains cometary knots—globs of gas that look like comets with their tails pointing toward the center of the nebula. The rest of the nebula is made up of gas and dust left over from the star’s death.

In this false-color composite, the nebula's SII gas is shown in pink and the HaNII gas is blue. These colors combine to make the purple. Towards the interior, as mentioned, the knot-like filaments are shown in green. This is primarily Hb gas.