The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the European Space Agency (ESA) released the latest photos sent back by the Webb Space Telescope on August 3. The processed photos show M57, which is about 2,600 light-years away from Earth, with unprecedented clarity. Ring Nebula. While showing incredible details, it also left people with mysteries that have yet to be answered.
An international team of astronomers led by Professor Mike Barlow from the University of London, Dr. Nick Cox from France, and Professor Albert Zijlstra from the University of Manchester said recently that Webb Space A new, never-before-seen image of the Ring Nebula, taken by a telescope, not only shows the nebula’s expanding shell (white-purple) of small pockets of cold molecular hydrogen, but also reveals the region near the central white dwarf star in high-resolution detail. Outside the shell are hundreds of “line features” pointing toward the central star, the origins of which are unclear.
“The first time I saw the Ring Nebula as a child, it was just Through a small telescope. Never thought that one day I would be part of a team that used the most powerful space telescope in the world to observe this object.”
The Ring Nebula (M57, also known as Messier 57), is a planetary nebula in the constellation Lyra, born of a dying star. Since it’s only 2,600 light-years away from Earth, it can be seen even with a small backyard telescope. This has also made it a popular research topic, with every reputable observatory photographing it, including Hubble, WM Keck, Subaru and more.
The M57 Ring Nebula as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope. (NASA, ESA, and CR O’Dell)
M57 provides a glimpse into what the solar system might look like billions of years from now. These nebulae are usually ejected from the outer shell due to self-collapse after the dying star has exhausted its hydrogen gas, and then form various shapes of nebulae, expanding bubbles, or ring nebulae like M57 in the surrounding space, with only There is only one core (white dwarf) with very high density and temperature.
Planetary nebulae come in all shapes and sizes, but M57 is known for its sharp outer shell and symmetrical bipolar structure. “The Webb Space Telescope has provided us with an extraordinary view of the ring nebula that we have never seen before,” said Barlow. surrounding interior area.”
“We were amazed by the detail in the image, better than anything we’ve seen before… We’ve always known that planetary nebulae are beautiful, and what we’re seeing now is The sight is truly spectacular.”
Cox said: “These images are not only beautiful, they also provide a wealth of scientific insight into the process of stellar evolution; by studying the Ring Nebula with Webb Telescope, we hope to gain a deeper understanding of the life cycle of stars and their release. to the elements in the universe.”
Webb also revealed hundreds of “line features” pointing toward the central star in the outer shell of the nebula. No one is yet sure what creates these line features, but astronomers are increasingly surprised by the ring nebula’s complexity.
Next, the team will obtain more images of the ring nebula captured by Webb’s MIRI (mid-infrared) instrument. In the mid-infrared band, the team expects to find more structural details and perhaps find the origin of the lines.
