APOD 2.7

This beautiful, circular nebula is the Helix Nebula in the constellation Aquaris. This nebula is produced by a dying star, which is the faint white dot in the center. This image took just about 28.5 hours of exposure to compose, combining the emissions lines of hydrogen and oxygen. The Helix Nebula is 700 light years away and is only a mere 6 light years across. On one of the constellation quizzes that we had, one of the constellations was Aquaris. I knew everything about it, except for the fact that it has the Helix Nebula in it. Now that I know so much about the nebula, I do not think I will forget it again.