Examine the straight, brightly-lit lines that pierce through the rings of gas and dust around the edges of the Southern Ring Nebula in the Webb Space Telescope’s image. These “spokes” appear to emanate from one or both of the central stars, marking where light streams through holes in the nebula. The holes are evidence of where the dimmer star that created this scene shot out material, creating open pathways for light to flow through.
Some of the star’s ejections followed thin, straight lines (second box) through the gas and dust. Other ejections (first box) look bent, curvy, and thicker. Why? A team of researchers, led by Orsola De Marco of Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, modeled how these complex structures might have formed. Studies of planetary nebulae have shown that even when dying stars eject their gas and dust at all angles simultaneously, the outflowing gas may not stay symmetrical for long. In the Southern Ring Nebula, the team projects that the straight lines may have been shot out hundreds of years earlier and at greater speeds than those that appear thicker and curvy. It’s possible the second set is a mix of material that slowed, creating less linear shapes.
By carefully comparing the appearance and timing of these ejections in the data and simulations, De Marco and her team propose that this is more evidence of the presence of a star with a slightly wider orbit that “stirred the pot” of ejections.
This image combines near- and mid-infrared light. The dimmer star that created the planetary nebula appears as a faint red star next to the central blue star.
Credits
Science
NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Orsola De Marco (Macquarie University)
Image Processing
Joseph DePasquale (STScI)
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | Southern Ring Nebula, NGC 3132, Eight-Burst Nebula |
| Object Description | Planetary Nebula |
| R.A. Position | 10:06:58.54 |
| Dec. Position | -40:26:00 |
| Constellation | Vela |
| Distance | 2,000 light-years (590 parsecs) |
| Dimensions | Image is about 2.4 arcmin across (1.4 light-years) |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | This image was created with Webb data from proposal . It is part of Webb Early Release Observations. The Early Release Observations and associated materials were developed, executed, and compiled by the ERO production team: Jaclyn Barrientes, Claire Blome, Hannah Braun, Matthew Brown, Margaret Carruthers, Dan Coe, Joseph DePasquale, Nestor Espinoza, Macarena Garcia Marin, Karl Gordon, Alaina Henry, Leah Hustak, Andi James, Ann Jenkins, Anton Koekemoer, Stephanie LaMassa, David Law, Alexandra Lockwood, Amaya Moro-Martin, Susan Mullally, Alyssa Pagan, Dani Player, Klaus Pontoppidan, Charles Proffitt, Christine Pulliam, Leah Ramsay, Swara Ravindranath, Neill Reid, Massimo Robberto, Elena Sabbi, Leonardo Ubeda. The EROs were also made possible by the foundational efforts and support from the JWST instruments, STScI planning and scheduling, Data Management teams, and Office of Public Outreach. |
| Instrument | JWST > NIRCam and MIRI |
| Exposure Dates | 3 June 2022 |
| Filters | NIRCam > F212N, F470N; MIRI > F770W |
| About The Image | |
| Color Info | These images are a composite of separate exposures acquired by the James Webb Space Telescope using the NIRCam and MIRI instruments. Several filters were used to sample narrow and broad wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic (grayscale) image associated with an individual filter. In this case, the assigned colors are: Red: F770W, Green: F470N, Blue: F212N |
| Compass Image |  |
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | A name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object. |
| Object Description | The type of astronomical object. |
| R.A. Position | Right ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Dec. Position | Declination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Constellation | One of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears. |
| Distance | The physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs. |
| Dimensions | The physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description |
|
| Instrument | The science instrument used to produce the data. |
| Exposure Dates | The date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time. |
| Filters | The camera filters that were used in the science observations. |
| About The Image | |
| Image Credit | The primary individuals and institutions responsible for the content. |
| Publication Date | The date and time the release content became public. |
| Color Info | A brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented. |
| Orientation | The rotation of the image on the sky with respect to the north pole of the celestial sphere. |
