Science and exploration
12/07/2022 4490 views 42 likes
NASA / ESA / CSA’s James Webb Space Telescope has revealed details of the Southern Ring planetary nebula that were previously hidden from astronomers.
Planetary nebulae are the shells of gas and dust ejected from dying stars. Webb’s powerful infrared vision makes the second star in this nebula visible, along with exceptional structures created as the stars shape the gas and dust around them. New details like these, from the last stages of a star’s life, will help us better understand how stars evolve and transform their environments. These images also reveal a cache of distant galaxies in the background. Most of the multicolored points of light seen here are galaxies, not stars.
Southern Ring Nebula – MIRI
Some stars keep the best for last.
The faintest star at the center of this scene has been sending rings of gas and dust in all directions for thousands of years, and NASA / ESA / CSA’s James Webb Space Telescope has revealed for the first time that this star is dust cover. .
Two cameras aboard Webb captured the last image of this planetary nebula, cataloged as NGC 3132 and informally known as the South Ring Nebula. It is about 2500 light years away.
Webb will allow astronomers to delve into many more details about planetary nebulae like this: clouds of gas and dust ejected by dying stars. Understanding what molecules are present and where they are found through gas and dust shells will help researchers hone their knowledge of these objects.
This observation shows the nebula in the southern ring almost face down. If we could turn it to see it from the edge, its three-dimensional shape would look more like two bowls placed together at the bottom, opening from each other with a large hole in the center.
Two stars, which are closed together in a narrow orbit, make up the local landscape. Webb infrared images present new details in this complex system. The stars, and their layers of light, are highlighted in Webb’s image of the Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam), while the image of Webb’s Medium Infrared Instrument (MIRI) shows for the first time that the second star is surrounded by dust. The brightest star is at an earlier stage in its evolution and will likely expel its own planetary nebula in the future.
Southern Ring Nebula – NIRCam
Meanwhile, the brightest star influences the appearance of the nebula. As the pair continues to orbit each other, they “row the pot” of gas and dust, causing asymmetrical patterns.
Each shell represents an episode during which the faintest star lost some of its mass. Wider gas shells to the outer areas of the image were expelled earlier. The closest to the star are the most recent. Tracking these expulsions allows researchers to examine the history of the system.
Observations made with NIRCam also reveal rays of light extremely far around the planetary nebula. The light from the central stars comes out where there are holes in the gas and dust, like sunlight through the voids of a cloud.
Because planetary nebulae have existed for tens of thousands of years, observing a nebula is like watching an exceptionally slow motion film. Each shell the star inflated offers researchers the ability to accurately measure the gas and dust present.
As the star ejects shells of material, dust and molecules form inside them, changing the landscape even as the star continues to eject material. This dust will eventually enrich the surrounding areas, expanding into what is known as the interstellar medium. And because it has a very long life, dust can end up traveling through space for billions of years and joining a new star or planet.
In thousands of years, these delicate layers of gas and dust will dissipate into the surrounding space.
About WebbWebb is the largest and most powerful telescope ever launched into space. Under an international collaboration agreement, ESA provided the telescope launch service, using the Ariane 5 launch vehicle. Working with partners, ESA was responsible for the development and qualification of the adaptations. of Ariane 5 for the Webb mission and the acquisition of the launch service by Arianespace. ESA also provided the NIRSpec battlehorse spectrograph and 50% of the MIRI medium infrared instrument, which was designed and built by a consortium of nationally funded European institutes (The MIRI European Consortium ) in collaboration with JPL and the University of Arizona.
Webb is an international partnership between NASA, ESA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).
For more information, contact:Relations with the ESA media: media@esa.int
Find more of Webb’s first images here.
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