Dust makes this cosmic eye look red. This eerie Spitzer Space Telescope
image shows infrared radiation from the well-studied Helix Nebula (NGC
7293), which is a mere 700 light-years away in the constellation
Aquarius. The two light-year diameter shroud of dust and gas around a
central white dwarf has long been considered an excellent example of a
planetary nebula, representing the final stages in the evolution of a
sun-like star. (source)
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Impressive! Thanks for posting this fusion of science and art.
cool!
FOOOOOF!!
Absolutely stupendous. A giant all seeing eye in the sky.
No, not dust makes it red. It was artificially colored. You can see it in the web under various names in different colorings like “Eye of God” or “Eye of Sauron” and such…
Still a nice pic.
Sweet.
Al is right, this image is heavily edited. Try nasa.gov for the real pic.
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_486.html
I believe this is called a… God’s Eye or summat…
no, it’s known as “sauron”….