Southern Ring Nebula from the James Webb Telescope

This planetary nebula, known as the Southern Ring Nebula, is an image of a dying star. It is expelling gas and dust as it dims, and the Webb image provided much new information about the ionized gas contained. This image is taken with mid-infrared light and reveals that it is actually a binary star at the center. The system is 2000 light years from Earth. The dimmer star at the center of this scene has been sending out rings of gas and dust for thousands of years in all directions, and NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has revealed for the first time that this star is cloaked in dust.

This image is taken with near-infrared light and shows more detail of the features of the expelled gas and dust.

References:

Southern Ring from the Webb Telescope.

Where is Webb?

NASA Description

James Webb orbit

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James Webb Images

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