700 light years from Earth towards the constellation Aquarius, lies a star similar to our Sun, except that it is slowly dying. Its 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 that it is watching us.
According to NASA, the God’s Eye is actually a planetary nebula named NGC 7293. These types of celestial objects are formed from the remains of stars that once looked very similar to our Sun, huge nuclear fusion reactors whose activity in their nuclei is responsible for the tremendous brightness. It is thanks to fusion that we obtain all the light that led to life on Earth, as well as the heat that keeps us in balance.
How did the Ojo de Dios nebula form?
Eventually our planetary system’s Sun will one day run out of fuel completely, becoming a white dwarf. A star that has a large amount of mass contained in an area much smaller than that of the parent star. That was precisely what happened to the God’s Eye nebula, after having a long life became a white dwarf. Then intense ultraviolet radiation from the dying star heated the ejected layers of gas that telescopes see as extremely bright infrared light.
Precisely It is this hot gas that shapes 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 that this dust is likely the result of the chaos caused right on her deathbed.
and chaos reigned
Like the Sun, many planets 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. Thus, the planets and other bodies that revolved in an orderly way around it were thrown against each other. Causing a cosmic dust storm accordingly. The same dusty disk that we can observe 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, they do not cease to evoke mystery and arouse curiosity. They also remind us of man’s constant search to find answers in the divine because the simple name of Ojo de Dios refers us to the mystical, whatever this means to you.
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