While this may look like a green version of the eye of Sauron, this Spitzer Space Telescope image shows infrared radiation from the Helix Nebula (NGC 7293). The nebula is 700 light years away, within the constellation Aquarius. The dust and gas gathered around the central white dwarf is two light years in diameter.
The nebula is considered an excellent example of a planetary nebula in the final stages in the evolution of a sun-like star. The bright infrared glow surrounding the central star is most likely the result of a dust debris disk, which could have been generated by collisions with objects similar to our solar system’s Kuiper Belt or cometary Oort cloud, as the nebular material would have been ejected from the star thousands of years ago. Our own Sun will similarly decay in 5 billion years time.
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