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The Helix Nebula: Unraveling at the Seams

The Helix Nebula: Unraveling at the Seams
Date taken Wed Oct 03 2012 Authorship NASA's JPL centre Keywords & Keyphrases Galaxy Evolution Explorer GALEX,Spitzer Space Telescope Metadata JSON

Behind the image

This image from NASA Spitzer and GALEX shows the Helix nebula, a dying star throwing a cosmic tantrum. In death, the star dusty outer layers are unraveling into space, glowing from the intense UV radiation being pumped out by the hot stellar core.