One of the first photos from the new Webb telescope: Webb's Southern Ring Nebula
From
NASA
 |
| Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, NIRCam |
Cataloged as NGC 3132 the Southern Ring Nebula is a planetary nebula, the death shroud of a dying sun-like star some 2,500 light-years from Earth.
Composed
of gas and dust the stunning cosmic landscape is nearly half a light-year in
diameter, explored in unprecedented detail by the James Webb Space Telescope.
In
this NIRCam image the bright star near center is a companion of the dying star.
In mutual orbit, the star whose transformation has ejected the nebula's gas and
dust shells over thousands of years is the fainter stellar partner.
Evolving
to become a white dwarf, the faint star appears along the diffraction
spike extending toward the 8 o'clock position.
This stellar pair's orbital motion has resulted the complex structures within the Southern Ring Nebula.