Scale Comparison
The Helix Nebula spans about 2.2 times the quoted diameter of the Ring Nebula.
The bright structure of the Helix Nebula spans a little more than twice the diameter used here for the Ring Nebula.
Nebulae fade gradually into surrounding space, and different wavelengths reveal different structures. These values describe selected visible emission rather than solid outer edges.
Objects
The Ring Nebula is a planetary nebula in Lyra, a glowing shell left behind when a dying Sun-like star shed its outer layers. Hubble reveals a distorted doughnut of ionized gas with lower-density material threaded through the center.
The Helix Nebula is one of the closest planetary nebulae to Earth, a glowing shell expelled by a dying Sun-like star. From Earth it can look like a simple doughnut, but the full structure is a layered remnant built from two nearly perpendicular gaseous disks and outflows.
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About
Scale of Space is a scroll-based journey through the universe, placing objects on a single logarithmic scale so you can compare size across an unbroken range.
Guides explain selected parts of that range, while focused views filter the objects by subject.