snopes.com: The Eye of God

Claim: Photograph taken by the Hubble Telescope shows a nebula dubbed the 'Eye of God.'

Status: Real picture; inaccurate description.

Examples:

[Collected via e-mail, 2006]

Eye of God

AWESOME!

Dear All:

This photo is a very rare one, taken by NASA. This kind of event occurs once in 3000 years.
This photo has done miracles in many lives.
Make a wish ... you have looked at the eye of God.
Surely you will see the changes in your life within a day.
Whether you believe it or not, don't keep this mail with you.
Pass this at least to 7 persons.

This is a picture NASA took with the Hubbell telescope.
Called "The Eye of God."
Too awesome to delete. It is worth sharing .

[Collected via e-mail, 2005]

This photo is a very rare one, taken by NASA, using the Hubble telescope. This kind of event occurs once in 3000 years, its called "The eye of God" This photo has done miracles in many lives, so please dont delete it. Make a wish... you have looked at the eye of God. It really choked me up. Whether you believe it or not, don't keep this mail with you.

[Collected via e-mail, 2003]

Eye of God — you really must see this!

See attachment . . . it is a picture taken by NASA with the Hubble telescope. They are referring to it as the "Eye of God". I thought it was beautiful and worth sharing.

Origins: The

above-displayed image is a real photograph of the Helix Nebula, although it's technically not a single photograph but rather a composite image formed from several photographs taken by NASA's orbiting Hubble Space Telescope and a land-based telescope at the Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, Arizona. This image was NASA's "Astronomy Picture of the Day" for 10 May 2003.

The Helix Nebula does not naturally appear with the colors shown above, however; the tinting of the image is artificial. The picture's "Eye of God" appellation is a title coined by an admirer of the photo due to the nebula's resemblance to a human eye, not something designated by NASA, and the nebula is also visible all the time, not merely "once in 3000 years."

Last updated: 5 July 2006

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