July 7, 2009--In a new image from the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii, thousands of previously unseen comet-shaped knots create a far-out fireworks display in the Helix nebula, also called NGC 7293.

At only 710 light-years from Earth, Helix is one of the closest planetary nebulae--clouds of gas and dust left over when a sunlike star dies. It's also the first planetary nebula where such knots have been observed. The features may reveal what types of material survive a sunlike star's death, experts say.