Nebulae · Nebula · planetary nebula
One of the nearest planetary nebulae. Explore its views, where their colours came from, and palettes you can use.
Featured palette: Webb near-infrared view (Sampled from this image)
#61463F#151621#342429#5A3737#815348#A87B5E#D2AF86
Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, A. Pagan (STScI). · released 20 January 2026
About Helix Nebula
One of the nearest planetary nebulae.
| Classification | Nebula (planetary nebula) |
|---|---|
| Identifiers | NGC 7293 |
| Distance | 700 light-yearsdistance stated by the image publisher · ESO |
| Observed light (this view) | 1.15 μm (shown as blue), P-alpha (shown as blue), molecular hydrogen (shown as green), 3.56 μm (shown as green), 4.44 μm (shown as red), molecular hydrogen (shown as red) |
Why these colours?
ESO Wide Field Imager view
Ground-based composite through several filters.
From: ESO Wide Field Imager view Visible-light composite
Webb near-infrared view
Infrared light; colours assigned by the Webb team. Filters listed by the publisher: 1.15 μm (shown as blue) (1.15 µm), P-alpha (shown as blue) (1.87 µm), molecular hydrogen (shown as green) (2.12 µm), 3.56 μm (shown as green) (3.56 µm), 4.44 μm (shown as red) (4.44 µm), molecular hydrogen (shown as red) (4.7 µm).
From: Webb near-infrared view Mapped non-visible data
Colour clusters describe pixels in an image; they cannot identify a mineral, a gas or a physical temperature. Shares of pixels describe the sampled region of the image, not the object’s surface.
Colours from selected views
Palettes sampled from identified images and regions, or calculated from a documented model. These values describe each image or model, not one permanent colour of Helix Nebula.
ESO Wide Field Imager view
Sampled from this image · ESO Wide Field Imager view
#4D4645RGB 77, 70, 69region average#110F0DRGB 17, 15, 1358% of the region#301E17RGB 48, 30, 2319% of the region#8C847ARGB 140, 132, 1228% of the region#6F4431RGB 111, 68, 497% of the region#296687RGB 41, 102, 1355% of the region#BCBAAARGB 188, 186, 1704% of the region
See where these colours came from
Webb near-infrared view
Sampled from this image · Webb near-infrared view
#61463FRGB 97, 70, 63region average#151621RGB 21, 22, 3337% of the region#342429RGB 52, 36, 4122% of the region#5A3737RGB 90, 55, 5516% of the region#815348RGB 129, 83, 7212% of the region#A87B5ERGB 168, 123, 948% of the region#D2AF86RGB 210, 175, 1345% of the region
See where these colours came from
Creative palettes inspired by Helix Nebula
A design derived from the selected representation. It is not a scientific colour measurement. Each colour keeps the sampled colour it was made from.
Inspired by Helix Nebula
Inspired by this object
#302D2BRGB 48, 45, 43from #110F0D#5E4941RGB 94, 73, 65from #301E17#936652RGB 147, 102, 82from #6F4431#64A0C3RGB 100, 160, 195from #296687#C6BEB3RGB 198, 190, 179from #8C847A#EBE9D8RGB 235, 233, 216from #BCBAAA
Colours of the first view of Helix Nebula with their lightness spread evenly, for a design palette.
Explore the views
Pick a colour from the image. Click or tap the picture to read a colour. Picked colours are yours, not catalogue samples.
No supported 3D model is available for this view. You can still inspect the source imagery and palette.
Use these colours
Every palette above opens in the palette generator. With JavaScript you can also add colours to your cosmic palette, save them, make a gradient or pattern, preview them in a design or a room (you choose which colour goes on which surface), check digital accessibility and export them. Each colour keeps the view and sample it came from.
Paint matches compare digital swatches for design inspiration. They are not physical equivalents of light from space. Edits create a new design palette. The original representation remains unchanged.
Sources
- Hubble FAQs — image processing and colour — NASA
- The Helix Nebula* — ESO
- Helix Nebula (NIRCam image) — ESA/Webb
Image credits
- ESO Wide Field Imager view: ESO. CC BY 4.0. Resized for the web from the publisher’s file (sha256 f67b522d9eb7f93fc308e96155f9b09385d53116c1e0f3174749a6dbcaa9f6d8).
- Webb near-infrared view: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, A. Pagan (STScI). CC BY 4.0. Resized for the web from the publisher’s file (sha256 ff2826220958b0c6babeb114e5d2e813d797bbb8bcabeb5d91c23dca6444cd71).
Images were resized once for the web; colours were measured from the published files (k-means in OKLab, pcke-oklab-kmeans-1); calculated colours use the CIE 1931 2° observer. Facts last reviewed 25 October 2026. Catalogue pcke-cosmos-2026-10-25, page revision ca9cbad0d657. No ESA, ESO or NASA endorsement is implied.