A murderous star lurks at the center of this new NASA image

A new X-ray look at the mesmerizing Helix Nebula reveals an alleged planet killer: a white dwarf that might be the source of strange emissions from the nebula.

The Helix Nebula, also known as Caldwell 63, is 650 million light-years from Earth, according to NASA. It's the remains of a dying star, which is gradually shedding its outer gas layers into the surrounding space. Stellar radiation causes the gas to glow like a giant ring, which stretches about 3 light-years across, according to NASA observations.

Now, a new look at the nebula combines X-ray emissions detected by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, visible light seen by the Hubble Space Telescope, infrared light detected by the European Southern Observatory's Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy, and ultraviolet light detected by NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer space telescope.