August 28, 2000
Light takes eight minutes to travel from the Sun to the Earth. It took the universe 13.8 billion years to make you.
The Helix Nebula from CFHT
Birthday · August 28, 2000
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APOD published August 28, 2000. Credit: J.-C. Cuillandre (CFHT Staff), CFH12K CCD Camera, CFHT. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
One day our Sun may look like this. The Helix Nebula is the closest example of a planetary nebula created at the end of the life of a Sun-like star. The outer gasses of the star expelled into space appear from our vantage point as if we are looking down a helix. The remnant central stellar core, destined to become a white dwarf star, glows in light so energetic it causes the previously expelled gas to fluoresce. The Helix Nebula, given a technical designation of NGC 7293, lies 450 light-years away towards the constellation of Aquarius and spans 1.5 light-years. The above image was taken with the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) located atop a dormant volcano in Hawaii, USA. A close-up of the inner edge of the Helix Nebula shows unusual gas knots of unknown origin.
Image credit: J.-C. Cuillandre (CFHT Staff), CFH12K CCD Camera, CFHT