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Red Spider Nebula glows in ethereal new JWST image

By KASPERA
1 Min Read
The central region of a planetary nebula is shown in a box. Labels indicate “Shock waves”, “Outflow collisions”, and an “Ionised jet” in the dust on both sides of the nebula. Close to the centre, “Dusty torus” and “Ionised torus” are marked. In the very middle, a faint dot inside a blotchy pink cloud is labelled “Dying star”. Bright stars surround the nebula and can be seen through the dust layers
The central region of a planetary nebula is shown in a box. Labels indicate “Shock waves,” “Outflow collisions,” and an “Ionised jet” in the dust on both sides of the nebula. Close to the centre, “Dusty torus” and “Ionised torus” are marked. In the very middle, a faint dot inside a blotchy pink cloud is labelled “Dying star.” Bright stars surround the nebula and can be seen through the dust layers. Image: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, J. H. Kastner (Rochester Institute of Technology).

Gas is also getting out from the center of the nebula. The elongated purple ‘S’ shape centered on the heart of the nebula traces the light from ionized iron atoms. This feature shows where a fast-moving jet has burst forth from the nebula’s central star and collided with the material that was previously cast away by the star.

The observations used to create this image come from Webb GO programme

A cosmic spider was caught in some kind of web. Specifically, the James Webb Space Telescope. The telescope’s sophisticated Near-InfraRed Camera (NIRCam) revealed some never-before-seen …read more

Source:: Popular Science

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