Controversial name or not, this nebula gives me the eerie feeling that the universe is being watched...

1. It's labeled the "Helix Nebula" however even "up close" you can see subtle threaded features that resemble the way an eye's stroma creates colorful ripples near the surface.

2. Looking at the nebula as a whole, you can begin to see why some people call it the "Eye of God."
3. However, we noticed that most of these images varied from each other a little bit, and they would sometimes reference Hubble imagery, but never directly link back.  We did some sleuthing and traced the general image structure back to a photo on the Hubble website.


4. Note, the lack of iris, as well as the lack of subtle stroma-like features found in the first image.  Even when you observe the nebula image up close, although some interesting details arise, none of the exquisite details that made the first visual seem specifically like an eye are present.

5. Not to be swayed too easily by this discovery, we took a look at the 3d model of this nebula, and indeed it's 3-dimensional structure is not dissimilar from an eerie eyeball floating in space.

6. So, all that being said, the nebula does still have the general shape and features of an eye, but perhaps not to the extent that its nickname might suggest. But is this all just photoshoppery and sleight of hand? NASA/JPL released a new image of this nebula that casts it in a whole new light.  Specifically, the image uses data from two separate telescopes to construct the visual.

7. So there you have it, in 6 images we've explained how the "Eye of God" (sometimes called "Eye of Cosmos" for political correctness) came to find its nickname.  Whether it truly looks enough like an eye is up to you.  One this is for certain, the Helix Nebula is absolutely beautiful and inspiring.  Here's the 7th visual we promised, photoshopped and all:)