The Ring Nebula as seen by the James Webb Telescope [영국 맨체스터대 보도자료. 재판매 및 DB 금지]
The James Webb Space Telescope, ‘humanity’s eye’ towards space, this time captured the death of a star more clearly than ever.
According to the daily Guardian, astronomers took pictures of the Ring Nebula in Lyra, 2,600 light-years away from Earth, with the James Webb Telescope and released it on the 3rd.
The Ring Nebula is a type of celestial body well known to astronomers, a donut-shaped structure of glowing gas.
A nebula is formed when a dying star explodes and ejects its constituent material into space, taking the form of a spreading bubble or complex, loose cloud.
This high-resolution image shows not only the nebula’s expanding shell, but also the inner part of the white dwarf’s center.
A white dwarf is a final stage in the evolution of a star (star) from birth to extinction, and is in a state of being shrunk to the size of a planet like Earth.
Michael Barrow, professor of astronomy at University College London, explains: “Stars like the Sun end their lives as white dwarfs by releasing their outer shells.”
star’s dying moment [맨체스터대 제공. 재판매 및 DB 금지]
“The stars then form beautiful planetary nebulae that glow because of radiation from very hot star cores,” Barlow adds.
Planetary nebulae have nothing to do with planets. In the early days of astronomy, it was given because it resembled a planet, and it is just a name that has been handed down until now.
The colorful bands observed within the nebula are caused by chemicals that emit different wavelengths of light.
Astronomers hope that analysis of these images will lead to deeper knowledge about the complex formation process of nebula structures, the life cycles of stars, and the material that stars exhale into space.
“We don’t yet fully understand the process of stellar change that occurs at this stage, similar to the metamorphosis of a caterpillar to a butterfly,” Barlow said.
“The Ring Nebula in Lyra is one of the closest and brightest planetary nebulae, making it an ideal study target for the James Webb Telescope,” he said.
