Astronomy Picture of the Day ·

Cometary Knots in the Helix Nebula

The Astronomy Picture of the Day for April 16, 1996 is “Cometary Knots in the Helix Nebula,” an image. It is credited to Credit: R. O’Dell and K. Handron (Rice University), NASA. The original explanation runs about 199 words.

Cometary Knots in the Helix Nebula
Credit: R. O’Dell and K. Handron (Rice University), NASA Shown from science.nasa.gov. Not hosted by OpenOrbit.

From the explanation

“Four hundred fifty light-years from Earth, the wind from a dying, sun-like star produced a planetary nebula popularly known as the Helix . While exploring the Helix’s gaseous envelope with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), astronomers discovered indications of 1,000s of striking “cometary knots” like those shown above.”

— APOD editors, April 16, 1996

Read the full explanation on science.nasa.gov

At a glance

Date
April 16, 1996
Type
Image
Credit
Credit: R. O’Dell and K. Handron (Rice University), NASA
Copyright
No copyright notice on the entry. Check the credited institution’s own usage rules before reusing it.
Explanation length
About 199 words

All of April 1996 → · 1996 by month → · Full archive since 1995 →

Topics in this entry

NebulaeHubble Space Telescope

Topics are matched from words in the title and explanation.

On this day: April 16 in other years

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Source

Copy taken Oct 28, 2026, 2:39 AM EDT. The image and explanation belong to their creators. OpenOrbit is not affiliated with or endorsed by NASA.