'The Eye of God'
Netlore Archive: Emailed NASA photo taken by the Hubble Space Telescope has been labeled the 'Eye of God' by frequent forwarders
Description: Emailed photo
Circulating since: May 2003
Status: Authentic NASA image
Email example contributed by A. Lieb, 27 July 2003:
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Subject: Fw: Eye of God This is a picture taken by NASA with the Hubble telescope. They are referring to it as the "Eye of God". I thought it was beautiful and worth sharing. 
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Comments: This is an authentic photograph -- or rather, composite of photos -- taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona. The image was featured on NASA's Website as an Astronomy Picture of the Day in May 2003 and thereafter posted on a number of Websites under the title "The Eye of God" (though I have found no evidence that NASA has ever referred to it as such). The awe-inspiring image has also been featured on magazine covers and in articles about space imagery.
What it actually depicts is the so-called Helix Nebula, described by astronomers as "a trillion-mile-long tunnel of glowing gases." At its center is dying star which has ejected masses of dust and gas to form tentacle-like filaments stretching toward an outer rim composed of the same material. Our own sun may look like this in several billion years.
Image Credit: NASA, WIYN, NOAO, ESA, Hubble Helix Nebula Team, M. Meixner (STScI), & T. A. Rector (NRAO).
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Sources and further reading:
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day: The Helix Nebula
Info about Hubble Space Telescope photo of the Helix Nebula (NGC 7293)Iridescent Glory of Nearby Planetary Nebula
National Optical Astronomy Observatory press release, 10 May 2003Examples of the Beauty and Variety of Planetary Nebulae
NASA ObservatoriumStar Evolution and Death - Planetary Nebulae Formation
NASA Observatorium
Last updated: 11/19/03
