NGC 7293: The Helix Nebula

Will our Sun look like this one day? The Helix Nebula is the closest example
of a planetary nebula created at the end of the life of a Sun-like star.
The outer gasses 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 it causes
the previously expelled gas to fluoresce. The Helix Nebula, given a technical
designation of NGC 7293, lies about 650 light-years away towards the constellation
of Aquarius and spans about 2.5 light-years. The above picture is a composite
of newly released images from the ACS instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope
and wide-angle images from the Mosaic Camera on the 0.9-m Telescope at Kitt Peak
National Observatory. A close-up of the inner edge of the Helix Nebula shows
complex gas knots of unknown origin.