Astronomy Friday – The Helix Nebula

NGC 7293 is more commonly known as the Helix nebula, a planetary nebula which is the result of a dying star shedding its outer layers and shrinking into a white dwarf star. Of all the brighter planetary nebula, the Helix is one of the closest to the Earth. Again, from my heavily light-polluted location, I have never visually seen the Helix through my telescope. It only came to life with the use of a camera. Can you see the faint big “O” of the Helix in these two photos?