700 light years from Earth toward the constellation Aquarius lies a star similar to our Sun, except that it is slowly dying. His last years of life have generated an amazing cosmic phenomenon, a work of art seen from our telescopes, it is the Helix Nebula, better known as the Eye of God for its spectacular shape that gives the impression of observing us.
According to NASA, the God’s Eye is actually a planetary nebula whose name is NGC 7293. These types of celestial objects are formed from the remains of stars that once looked very similar to our Sun, enormous nuclear fusion reactors whose activity in their nuclei is responsible for their tremendous brightness. Thanks to fusion, we obtain all the light that supported life on Earth, as well as the heat that keeps us in balance.
How was the God’s Eye Nebula formed?
Eventually the Sun of our planetary system will one day exhaust its fuel completely, becoming a . A star that has a large amount of mass contained in an area much smaller than that of the initial star. That was precisely what happened to God’s Eye, after having a long life she became a white dwarf. Then the intense ultraviolet radiation from the dying star heated the expelled layers of gas that telescopes see as extremely bright infrared light.
It is precisely this hot gas that gives shape to the Helix Nebula and gives it its eye-like appearance. The brightest circle is the ultraviolet and infrared glow, the combination of a dusty disk surrounding the white dwarf. Astrophysicists believe this dust is probably the result of chaos wrought right in its bed.
And chaos reigned
Like the Sun, many probably orbited the God’s Eye. However, when it ran out of hydrogen to continue consuming and tore off its outer layers, chaos reigned within the system. In this way, the planets and other bodies that rotated orderly around them were thrown against each other. Provoking a of cosmic dust consequently. The same dusty disk that we can see in the masterful images captured by different telescopes that have closely monitored the nebula for more than two decades.
The different images of the nebula captured from different telescopes show us how amazing cosmic objects can be, which although we now know in greater detail, continue to evoke mystery and awaken curiosity. They also remind us of man’s constant search to find answers in the divine because the simple name of God’s Eye refers us to the mystical, whatever this means to you.