{"id":859,"date":"2025-10-20T20:27:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T20:27:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lonepeak.space\/?p=859"},"modified":"2025-10-21T03:26:21","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T03:26:21","slug":"ngc-7293","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lonepeak.space\/index.php\/2025\/10\/20\/ngc-7293\/","title":{"rendered":"NGC 7293"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lonepeak.space\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/NGC-7293-1.webp\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"676\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lonepeak.space\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/NGC-7293-1-1024x676.webp\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-861\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.lonepeak.space\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/NGC-7293-1-1024x676.webp 1024w, https:\/\/www.lonepeak.space\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/NGC-7293-1-300x198.webp 300w, https:\/\/www.lonepeak.space\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/NGC-7293-1-768x507.webp 768w, https:\/\/www.lonepeak.space\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/NGC-7293-1-1536x1014.webp 1536w, https:\/\/www.lonepeak.space\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/NGC-7293-1-2048x1352.webp 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wikipedia Description:   The <strong>Helix Nebula<\/strong> (also known as <strong>NGC 7293<\/strong> or <strong>Caldwell 63<\/strong>) is a <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Planetary_nebula\">planetary nebula<\/a> (PN) located in the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Constellation\">constellation<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Aquarius_(constellation)\">Aquarius<\/a>. Discovered by <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Karl_Ludwig_Harding\">Karl Ludwig Harding<\/a>, most likely before 1824, this object is one of the closest of all the bright planetary nebulae to Earth.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Helix_Nebula#cite_note-Horaetal2006-3\">[3]<\/a><\/sup> The distance, measured by the <em><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gaia_(spacecraft)\">Gaia<\/a><\/em> mission, is 655\u00b113 light-years.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Helix_Nebula#cite_note-4\">[4]<\/a><\/sup> It is similar in appearance to the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Cat%27s_Eye_Nebula\">Cat&#8217;s Eye Nebula<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ring_Nebula\">Ring Nebula<\/a>, whose size, age, and physical characteristics are in turn similar to the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Dumbbell_Nebula\">Dumbbell Nebula<\/a>, differing only in their relative proximity and the appearance from the equatorial viewing angle.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Helix_Nebula#cite_note-ODelletal2002-5\">[5]<\/a><\/sup> The Helix Nebula has sometimes been referred to as the &#8220;Eye of God&#8221; in <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Pop_culture\">pop culture<\/a>,<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Helix_Nebula#cite_note-6\">[6]<\/a><\/sup> as well as the &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Eye_of_Sauron\">Eye of Sauron<\/a>&#8220;.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Helix_Nebula#cite_note-7\">[7]<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Helix_Nebula#cite_note-8\">[8]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Helix Nebula is an example of a planetary nebula, formed by an intermediate to low-mass star, which sheds its outer layers near the end of its evolution. Gases from the star in the surrounding space appear, from Earth&#8217;s perspective, a <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Helix\">helix<\/a> structure. The remnant central stellar core, known as the central star (CS) of the planetary nebula, is destined to become a <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/White_dwarf\">white dwarf<\/a> star. The observed glow of the central star is so energetic that it causes the previously expelled gases to brightly <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Fluoresce\">fluoresce<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The nebula is in the constellation of <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Aquarius_(constellation)\">Aquarius<\/a>, and lies about 650 <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Light-year\">light-years<\/a> away, spanning about 0.8 <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Parsec\">parsecs<\/a> (2.5 light-years). Its age is estimated to be 10600+2300<br>\u22121200 years, based on the ratio of its size to its measured expansion rate of 31&nbsp;km\u00b7s<sup>\u22121<\/sup>.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Helix_Nebula#cite_note-ODelletal2002-5\">[5]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Helix_Nebula\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Helix_Nebula\">Wikipedia Link<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>Acquisition Details:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table is-style-regular\" style=\"font-size:clamp(14px, 0.875rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.49), 19px);\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\" style=\"border-top-style:none;border-top-width:0px;border-right-style:none;border-right-width:0px;border-bottom-style:none;border-bottom-width:0px;border-left-width:1px\"><tbody><tr><td>Telescope<\/td><td>Takahashi TOA-130<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Optics<\/td><td>Takahashi TOA-645 Flattener<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Filter<\/td><td>Optolong Ultimate Dual Band<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Camera<\/td><td>ASI2600MC Pro OSC<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Integration Time<\/td><td>2.5 hours<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Subframes<\/td><td>30 x 300 seconds<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Date<\/td><td>October 19, 2025<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Location<\/td><td>Carlsbad, California<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wikipedia Description: The Helix Nebula (also known as NGC 7293 or Caldwell 63) is a planetary nebula (PN) located in the constellation Aquarius. Discovered by Karl Ludwig Harding, most likely before 1824, this object is one of the closest of all the bright planetary nebulae to Earth.[3] The distance, measured by the Gaia mission, is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":861,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lonepeak.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lonepeak.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lonepeak.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lonepeak.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lonepeak.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=859"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.lonepeak.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":864,"href":"https:\/\/www.lonepeak.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859\/revisions\/864"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lonepeak.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lonepeak.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lonepeak.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lonepeak.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}