Webb captures the dying star's final 'performance' in fine detail
Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI Some stars save the best for last. The faint star in the center of this scene has sent 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 the star is shrouded in dust. Two cameras aboard Webb captured the latest images of the planet’s nebula, cataloged as NGC 3132, and informally known as the Southern Ring Nebula. The distance is about 2,500 light years. Webb will allow astronomers to unearth more specifics about planetary nebulae like these—clouds of gas and dust ejected by dying stars. Understanding which molecules are present, and where they are located across shells of gas and dust will help researchers refine their knowledge of these objects. This observation shows the Southern Ring Nebula almost facing upwards, but if we could rotate it to view it from the edge, its three-dimensional shape would more clearly