Key facts
- Category
- Nebulae
- Object class
- Planetary nebula
- Host
- Milky Way
- Scale fact
- 5.6 lydiameter
- Composition
- Ionized gas, dust, cometary knots
Helix Nebula
5.6 lydiameter
Visual creditHubble 2002 / NASA, ESA, C.R. O'Dell (Vanderbilt University), M. Meixner and P. McCullough (STScI) / Public domainSource: NASA Science
Details
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.
The Helix Nebula is one of the nearest planetary nebulae, formed from outer layers shed by an aging low-mass star. Its apparent ring is part of a larger three-dimensional system of ionized gas, dust and thousands of dense cometary knots around the exposed stellar core.
Geometric models use intersecting disk-like structures and outflows to explain the projected shape. The quoted 5.74-light-year diameter includes faint outer material, not only the bright central ring most familiar from images.
Links
- Editorial guides
- Universe journey
- Orion Arm
- Preset views
- Wikipedia
- Helix Nebula on Wikipedia
Size neighbors
Objects near Helix Nebula on the scale
On the logarithmic size axis, Helix Nebula falls between Oort Cloud and Crab Nebula. The band uses nearby Planetary nebula records.
Shared physical scale
4.28ly
Sources
References for Helix Nebula
Measurements and descriptive context are compiled by the Scale of Space team from the references below. If you find an error, please let us know.
- Helix Nebula — Wikipedia
- Visual reference: NASA Science (Hubble 2002 / NASA, ESA, C.R. O'Dell (Vanderbilt University), M. Meixner and P. McCullough (STScI), Public domain)
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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.