Cosmic Fireworks Display Seen Inside Helix Nebula

goran72 writes "A new image, taken with an infrared camera on the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii, has revealed a cosmic fireworks display, in the form of tens of thousands of previously unseen comet-shaped knots inside the Helix Nebula. Unlike previous optical images of the Helix Nebula knots, the infrared image shows thousands of clearly resolved knots, extending out from the central star at greater distances than previously observed. These images enable astronomers to estimate that there may be as many as 40,000 knots in the entire nebula, each of which are billions of kilometers/miles across. Their total mass may be as much as 30,000 Earths, or one-tenth the mass of our Sun."

Re:obligatory google cache link goes here

[SEWilco]

Google cache doesn't include images, so of course you're still left waiting for the images from the original site. Fortunately, the original site's slashdotting ends instantly in astronomical time.