Caption
The mid-infrared view of planetary nebula NGC 6072 from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows expanding circular shells around the outflows from the dying central star, which astronomers suspect is the pinkish white dot at the center of the image. The longer wavelengths captured by Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) highlight the dust being cast off by the central dying star.
In this image, the blue represents cool molecular gas that is seen in red in the near-infrared image from Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) due to color mapping.
