Explanation:
Dust makes this cosmic eye look red.
The eerie Spitzer Space Telescope image
shows infrared
radiation from the well-studied
Helix Nebula (NGC 7293) a mere
700 light-years away in the constellation
Aquarius.
The two light-year diameter shroud of dust and gas around
a central white dwarf has long been considered an excellent
example of a
planetary
nebula, representing the final stages
in the evolution of a sun-like star.
But the Spitzer data show the nebula's central star itself
is immersed in a surprisingly bright infrared glow.
Models
suggest the glow is produced by a dust debris
disk.
Even though the nebular material was ejected from the star
many thousands of years ago,
the close-in dust could be generated by collisions in
a reservoir of objects analogous to our own solar system's
Kuiper
Belt or cometary
Oort cloud.
Formed in the distant planetary system, the comet-like bodies have
otherwise survived even the dramatic late stages of the star's
evolution.
