The "eye of God"

simple coincidences

The image of the Helix planetary nebula was indeed taken by the Hubble telescope. As stated before, these objects can have various shapes and it should not be surprising that other nebulae have a structure that is quite symmetrical or similar to an object or animal known to us. In fact, below I present 3 common examples of objects that also remind us, just by coincidence, of certain known things. Regarding the Helix Nebula, it is not officially recognized as the "eye of God", although popularly (and helped by the chain of
e-mail) could be considered as such. It should be noted, however, that this unofficial designation does not affect astronomy in any way, unless it is used to show that this nebula actually has a "divine" character or that it "grants miracles." It is simply an astronomical object, although extremely beautiful.

Featured Examples

Nebula known as "Horse's head«, also catalogued as B33. It is located in the constellation of Orion, very close to the star Alnitak, in the Orion Belt. It is a dark nebula with a shape very similar to the head of a horse, which is part of a much larger complex of molecular clouds.

Dust particles around the bright star Fomalhaut, the brightest star in Piscis Austrinus, were taken by the Hubble telescope and show a structure very similar to the famous "Eye of Sauron» from the epic saga The Lord of the rings. It is one of several disks of dust and debris that surround this star, the brightest in the constellation Piscis Austrinus.

Star of death?

Saturn's satellite Mimas shows a huge crater that almost destroyed it at one point. It is often renamed the "Star of death", due to its great resemblance to the gigantic space station used as a super-weapon in the saga Star Wars.