Excess emission from a point-like source coincident with the central star of the Helix Nebula is detected with Spitzer at 8 , 24 , and 70 { \mu m } .
At 24 { \mu m } , the central source is superposed on an extended diffuse emission region .
While the [ O iv ] 25.89 { \mu m } line contributes to the diffuse emission , a 10-35 { \mu m } spectrum of the central source shows a strong thermal continuum .
The excess emission from the star most likely originates from a dust disk with blackbody temperatures of 90–130 K. Assuming a simple optically thin debris disk model , the dust is distributed in a ring between \sim 35 and \sim 150 AU from the central star , possibly arising from collisions of Kuiper-Belt-like Objects or the break-up of comets from an Oort-like cloud that have survived from the post-main-sequence evolution of the central star .