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Enlarge / The Butterfly Nebula, located just under 4,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Scorpius, is a striking example of a planetary nebula, the final stage in the evolution of small to medium-sized stars. The silent butterfly’s “wings” consist of gas and dust that have been ejected from the dying star and illuminated from within by the remaining stellar core. The nebula’s symmetrical, double-lobed shape is a sign that a companion star is helping to form the escaping gas. Both the main star and its companion are hidden by a shroud of dust at the center of the nebula. Billions of years from now, as our Sun nears the end of its life and the helium core begins to coalesce at its core, it will swell dramatically and turn into what is known as a red giant star. After swallowing Mercury, Venus, and Earth with barely a burp, it will grow so large that it can no longer hold its outermost layer of gas and dust. In the glorious end, it will eject thes...

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 mo...