<p>This cropped version of the Helix Nebula mosaic shows cometary-filaments embedded along a portion of the inner rim of the nebula's red and blue gas ring. At a distance of 650 light-years, the Helix is one of the nearest planetary nebulae to Earth.
</p>
The composite picture is a seamless blend of ultra-sharp NASA Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Advanced Camera for Surveys images combined with the wide view of the Mosaic Camera on the National Science Foundation's 0.9-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory, part of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory, near Tucson, Ariz. Astronomers at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) assembled the images into a mosaic. The mosaic was blended with a wider photograph taken by the Mosaic Camera.
NASA, NOAO, ESA, the Hubble Helix Nebula Team, M. Meixner (STScI), and T.A. Rector (NRAO)
<a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2003/11/image/b/">http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2003/11/image/b/</a> (<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://imgsrc.hubblesite.org/hu/db/2003/11/images/b/formats/full_jpg.jpg">direct link</a>)