New image of the Ring Nebula from the James Webb Space Telescope

All eyes are on the Moon these days because of the Luna-25 and Chandrayaan-3 missions. However, this should not make us forget that the universe is wonderful. During the first week of August we wrote about posting aRing Nebula image (also known as Messier 57, M57, or NGC 6720) captured by James Webb Space Telescope. Unlike other occasions, that photo was provided not by “usual” NASA/ESA archives but jointly published by Western University, University of Manchester, University College London, and other institutions.

NIRCam image, click to enlarge

Now we finally have a new photo (actually two photos) taken again by JWST extension with data yoke camera for near infrared e Merry for mid-infrared. This celestial body is decidedly amazing even for astronomers because it looks evocative and, thanks to the colors applied in post-production, it is possible to improve its shapes. In the past, the Hubble Space Telescope had already been photographed, among other things, by the Hubble Space Telescope. now web Adds more details. This is what we know.

Image of the Ring Nebula by the James Webb Space Telescope

As mentioned From the press releases Subscriber from ESA And NASAthanks for the James Webb Space Telescope Incredible detail was captured from Ring Nebula (Located about 2,300-2,500 light-years from Earth, in the constellation Lyra). In the center is a star that has expelled its outer layers due to the last stages of its life. with the note through yoke camera And Merry It was possible, for example, to highlight the structure of the inner ring and the structure of the outer regions in order to better understand their dynamics.

Mary’s photo, click to enlarge

The nebula within it contains rich regions molecular hydrogen with the innermost region where the gas is particularly hot. Also in this region there is a (thin) ring in which there are carbon-rich molecules called Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

What’s more interesting is that the special structure of Ring Nebula It would have been formed by a lower mass star orbiting the main star at a distance equal to that between Earth and Pluto. This least massive star of the binary system has yet to be detected and is therefore a hypothesis for the time being though with potential James Webb Space Telescope. The concentric arches can be seen from the inner to the outer area. Scientists believe that the rate of their formation is once every 280 years.

On the left is the HST image, on the right is the JWST image

The structure of this celestial body sees low-density matter in the center extending toward the Earth and in the opposite direction. The main star will become one in the future white dwarf (small in size, but very dense and hot) while it has already passed the red giant stage. An end similar to what the sun could do in a few billion years.

the James Webb Space Telescope These notes were used on August 4, 2022 for yoke camera Filters F162M, F212N, F300M and F335M were used. to Merry Instead, observations are dated July 14, 2022, and August 21, 2022 with filters F560W, F770W, F1000W, F1130W, F1280W, F1500W, F1800W, F2100W, and F2550W. The area covered by the image is 2.14 x 2.17 arcminutes. ESA has made high resolution images available From about 90MB from NIRCam And From 7.3 MB of MIRI.