Helix Nebula

The Helix Nebula is one of the closest and largest planetary nebula in the sky. Although extraordinarily large in size its very low surface brightness can make it difficult to spot in a telescope or to photograph. The dark skies skies of Eustis offer some the best opportunities to observe it.

The Helix nebula sits distance of 650 light years from Earth and is around 0.8 light years across. The central star is on its way to becoming a white dwarf and its fierce radiation causes its previously expelled gaseous envelope to fluoresce.

This image is a total 5^h20^m taken over 3 nights in August and September, 2023 through a 5 inch telescope from Eustis Ridge.

For scale the image below shows the Helix Nebula beside the disk of the Full Moon. Had they been able to see it, what would early humans have thought of this eye in the sky looking down at them?