Tuesday, June 10, 2008 '

An Astounding Star

I was looking around in the web with Stumble Upon! and I found this really, really cool website about our universe. And there's this amazing looking star I found !
I've actually seen it before in a video clip but seeing it again is still...
Astounding!

Okay, I actually DO NOT look this cunning when I saw this star but this is the best and the most apposite emoticon I can find =P

The star is called Helix Nebula, otherwise known as Eye of God

Here's some info about the Helix Nebula from the Wikipedia.....

The Helix Nebula is an example of a planetary nebula created at the end of the life of a Sun-like star. The outer gases of the star expelled into space appear from our vantage point as if we are looking down a helix. The remnant central stellar core, destined to become a white dwarf star, glows in light so energetic that it causes the previously expelled gas to fluoresce.

Helix lies about 650 light-years away towards the constellation of Aquarius and spans about 2.5 light-years. Recent pictures of Helix are a composite of newly released images from the ACS Hubble Space Telescope and wide-angle images from the Mosaic Camera on the WIYN 0.9 m Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory. instrument on the

It is estimated to be 10,600^+2,300_−1,200 years old based upon an expansion rate of 31 km/s.

Doesn't it look amazing and breath-taking?
I mean, it looks exactly like an eyeball, one watching over us from hundreds of light years away.
The universe is so amazing! =)
Here's the site that I was at, WikiSky.
Have a look at the attractive spots of the Universe,
Its ooh-laa-laa

Labels: interesting stuff