A comparison between the older VISTA image and the brand-new JWST image, with extreme zoomable details across its field of view (Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, A. Pagan (STScI)).
A new photograph of the famous Helix Nebula has been released by the James Webb Space Telescope. First discovered in the 1800s, it is one of the most recognizable planetary nebulas in our sky, with a distinct eye-like appearance. Located a staggering 650 light-years away towards the constellation of Aquarius, this nebula is a favorite target amongst countless astrophotographers thanks to its bold and symmetrical ring-like structure. Now, the JWST’s powerful instruments have revealed the intricate and detailed inner workings of this object, giving us a closer and clearer look into the final stages of Sun-like stars.
The full resolution image JWST released of the Helix nebula’s delicate gas structures (Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, A. Pagan (STScI)).
In the middle of this nebula sits a white dwarf star — the remaining core of what was once a star very similar to our own Sun. JWST’s NIRCam photographs dense, comet-like chunks of gas along the inner edge of the Helix nebula’s shell. These structures are made when strong, fast-moving winds from the dying star collide and crash with cooler material that was ejected earlier in its life, shaping the nebula into complex pillars and trails that we see today.
The Helix nebula captured by the Hubble Space Telescope (Image Credit: NASA, ESA, C.R. O'Dell (Vanderbilt University), and M. Meixner, P. McCullough, and G. Bacon (Space Telescope Science Institute)).
Unlike Hubble’s true-color image, the colors in Webb’s picture actually tell us about temperature differences and chemistry. The blues mark the hotter gas that was energized from radiation by the leftover white dwarf star. The yellow regions are cooler molecular hydrogen. Reds are hues that trace the coldest outer material, which is where gas starts thinning and dust begins dominating.
Since the Helix Nebula was made from a star similar to our own, it gives us a preview of what the Sun’s distant future looks like, over 5 billion years from now. Although planetary nebulas don’t actually have to do with planets, they present key knowledge about stellar evolution, and how the deaths of stars can actually be the reason for the formation of new worlds.