NGC 7293 - The Eye of God Watches

by Bob Meincke

Objects in field: Helix Nebula, NGC 7293

Equipment: Askar 91F Flat-Field, ZWO ASI585MC

Integration: 8h

At first glance, NGC 7293—the Helix Nebula—appears as a silent, cosmic eye suspended in the darkness. Its glowing inner core of ionized oxygen fades outward into a complex shell of hydrogen, revealing the layered remains of a dying star roughly 650 light-years from Earth. What we are seeing is not an eye in any literal sense, but the final breath of a sun-like star shedding its outer layers into…