Helix Nebula
The Helix Nebula is beautiful to see. It is like staring into the “Eye of God,” according to religious people. However, it is the “Eye of Sauron” to the rest of us nerds. It is not shocking why so many feel it is one of the most breathtaking photos captured by NASA and the ESA. Located in the Aquarius constellation and discovered by Karl Ludwig Harding sometime before 1824, this happens to be one of the closest nebulas to us. The Gaia mission managed to measure it at 655 light-years, give or take 13 lightyears. This is massive and would take several lifetimes to fully explore if you started at the far left or right and went to the other side.
This happens to be a Planetary nebula, meaning it contains planets inside of it next to several of its stars. This does not mean every star or planet is in great shape, of course. This nebula was originally formed by an intermediate to low-mass star as it shed outer layers near its death. You can easily see the gases from the star now surrounding the nebula. We also now know that the central star in this nebula will become a white dwarf star. It is so energetic that the star expelled gases to make the nebula’s light even brighter. The estimated age of the Helix Nebula is roughly 10,600 years old, give or take a few thousand years.