The Helix nebula, sometimes referred to as the God's Eye nebula, is another beautiful gas cloud hanging above us. It is not hard to see why people might think it looks like the eye of God, (or even the eye of Sauron), although this particularly evil looking nebula is what's known as a "Planetary Nebula" and is the result of an old star. Not all stars supernova, they are very rare events. When stars are too small to go out with a bang they go out with a whimper instead, giving off clouds of gas and collapsing down into tiny stars in the middle - this is the beautiful result. Planetary nebula come in all shapes and sizes, (try the Cat's Eye nebula for another good one,) and a lot of them look eerily like they are watching us from above. Clocking in at three light years across it's still an impressive specimen. It's also more than 10,000 years old so this eye was looking down on earth long before even the ancient Egyptian civilization.
I'm currently obtaining my doctorate in Astrophysics making me a huge nerd. I'm a fan of movies, books and games as well as having a big soft spot for music, particularly soundtracks. If it's an hour long discussion about which Final Fantasy game was the best, I'm your best bet.
