A glowing eye

A glowing, ring-shaped cloud sits at the center of a dense star field, with a bright blue-green disk in the middle surrounded by a thick band of pink and magenta. Wispy, cloud-like red tendrils drift outward unevenly from the ring, reaching farther out toward the right side and giving the whole shape a lopsided, eye-like look. Countless small white, blue, and orange stars fill the dark background around it.

Gerald Rhemann, taken from Farm Tivoli, Namibia

The Helix Nebula (NGC 7293) is a planetary nebula around 650 light-years away in Aquarius, the glowing remains of a dying, Sun-like star’s outer layers. They now surround a hot white dwarf left at the nebula’s center. The imager captured about 24.3 hours of exposure in Hα/OIII/LRGB filters with a 12-inch f/3.6 reflector.