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(Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, NASA-JPL, Caltech, UCLA, Michael Ressler( NASA-JPL), Dave Jones(IAC))
What it is: NGC 1514, a planetary nebula
Where it is: 1,500 light-years remote in the constellation Taurus
When it was shared: April 14, 2025
Why it’s so unique: The death of a star can be the driver for among the most gorgeous sights in deep space. To see that, look no more than the most recent images from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which just recently turned its look towards a planetary nebula called NGC 1514.
According to NASAplanetary nebulas form throughout the death of some stars as they expel their external layers into area. Planetary nebulas like NGC 1514 are broadening shells of gas that form complex shapes. NGC 1514 is often called the Crystal Ball Nebula, however in this brand-new image from Webb, it looks more like an hourglass or a ring. That’s thanks to the additional information exposed by JWST’s infrared optics, with its Mid-infrared Instrument (MIRI) in specific assisting to extract gas clouds and rings.
Related: James Webb telescope areas Milky Way’s long-lost ‘twin’– and it is ‘essentially altering our view of the early universe’
In the center of the nebula is what appears like a single intense star. Looks can be misleading; it’s in fact a double star, with the thick cores of 2 passing away stars secured a shared orbit. These stars– one still expelling its external gas layers and the other a white dwarf, the hot residue of a star that has actually consumed its nuclear fuel– are accountable for what JWST can see just in infrared light.
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The white dwarf began as a star numerous times more enormous than the sun.
NASA’s WISE satellite and JWST share completing views of the Crystal Ball Nebula (Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, NASA-JPL, Caltech, UCLA, Michael Ressler (NASA-JPL), Dave Jones(IAC))
“As it evolved, it puffed up, throwing off layers of gas and dust in a very slow, dense stellar wind,” David Jonesa senior researcher at the Institute of Astrophysics on the Canary Islands, who discovered the binary star system in 2017, stated in a declaration
JWST provides researchers an unmatched peek into the universes, exposing never-before-seen information even in things that have actually formerly been studied. “Before Webb, we weren’t able to detect most of this material, let alone observe it so clearly,” stated Mike Resslera scientist and job researcher for Webb’s MIRI at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in southern California. “With MIRI’s data, we can now comprehensively examine the turbulent nature of this nebula.” Ressler had actually observed the rings around NGC 1514 in a much fuzzier and less comprehensive image taken in 2010 by NASA’s now-retired Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE).
For more superb area images, have a look at our Area Photo of the Week archives
Jamie Carter is a self-employed reporter and routine Live Science factor based in Cardiff, U.K. He is the author of A Stargazing Program For Beginners and lectures on astronomy and the natural world. Jamie routinely composes for Space.com, TechRadar.com, Forbes Science, BBC Wildlife publication and Scientific American, and numerous others. He modifies WhenIsTheNextEclipse.com.
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