Horloge Carrée Helix Nebula

galaxies, Stars and Nebulae series: A fantastique colour-composite image of the Helix Nebula (NGC 7293). It que created from images obtained using the Wide Field Imager (WFI), in astronomical camera attached to the 2.2-metre Max-Planck Society/ESO telescope a the Silla observatory au Chili. The Blue-green glow in the centre of the Helix comes from oxygen atoms shining under effects of the intense ultraviolet radiation of the 120 000 degree Celsius central star and the hot gas . Further out from the star and beyond the ring of knots, the red colour from hydrogen and nitrogen is more prominent. A careful look at the central part of this object reveals not only the knots, donc but est de many remote galaxies right through the thinly spread glowing gas. Image code: helixneb ESO/J Reproduced under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.