Oregon Society of Clinical Hypnosis

A Component Section of the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis

Helix Nebula, also known as "The Eye of God"

The Helix Nebula is an example of a planetary nebula created at the end of the life of a Sun-like star. The outer gases 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 that it causes the previously expelled gas to fluoresce.

Helix lies about 650 light-years away towards the constellation of Aquarius and spans about 2.5 light-years. Recent pictures of Helix are 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 WIYN 0.9-m Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory.

The Helix has often been referred to as the Eye of God. The precise origin of this nickname is unknown. Also, in Internet Folklore since about 2003, is has also been referred to as the "Eye of Sauron" due to its resemblance to said object in the "Lord of the Rings" movie trilogy. However, this name is false and the stylized picture with the blue "iris" is a composite image. A non-composite image shows more natural colours with background cluttering, which was missing from the claimed image.

For a bigger presentation of the above image, please click here! For more information, please visit the following links:

• NASA Images
• Wikipedia Entry