2023-08-21 18:54:10
The James Webb Space Telescope provided images with unprecedented resolution of one of the most fascinating space objects in our sky, the Ring Nebula, formed from the remains of a decaying star that sheds its outer layers as it runs out of fuel.
The Ring Nebula (also known as M57 and NGC 6720) gets its name from its distorted donut shape, is relatively close to Earth, regarding 2,500 light-years away, and can be seen on summer nights in the Northern Hemisphere with medium telescopes.
The new images provided by the James Webb Telescope (NASA/ESA/CSA) provide a spatial resolution and spectral sensitivity never seen before, which have allowed us to observe the intricate details of the filamentous structure of the inner ring, or to better understand the outer regions. of the ring, in which regarding ten concentric arches can be seen.
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In the photographs, one of the poles of this structure is visible almost directly, like a kind of barrel of brightly colored material that extends far from Earth.
The mid-infrared instrument (MIRI) has given us the sharpest and clearest view of the faint halo outside the bright ring. Physical features within suggest there may be a companion star helping to sculpt the layers thrown off by the dying star. pic.twitter.com/AvXMKnGZT3
— NASA Webb Telescope (@NASAWebb) August 21, 2023
Although the center of the donut may appear empty, it is actually filled with lower-density material that spreads out and recedes at the same time, creating a shape similar to that of a balloon embedded in the central hollow of the donut, the ESA explains. it’s a statement.
The colorful main ring is made up of gas expelled from the dying star at the center of the nebula; a star on the verge of becoming a white dwarf, a very small, dense and hot body that constitutes the final evolutionary stage of a star of the same type as the Sun.
The Ring Nebula becomes a kind of space archaeological material for astronomers, since it will allow us to know more details regarding the original star that created it when it decomposed.
This space object was discovered in 1779 by astronomers Antoine Darquier de Pellepoix and Charles Messier, who stumbled upon it while trying to follow the trajectory of a comet through the constellation Lyra, passing very close to the Ring Nebula.
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