NASA released two images on Tuesday taken by the James Webb Space Telescope of the Southern Ring Nebula, a vast cloud of dust and gas 2,000 light-years from Earth.
Webb’s infrared vision, which helps it peer through the nebula’s cosmic dust, also revealed something never seen before: a side view of a distant galaxy lurking in the background of the photo.
The bluish streak in this close-up image of the Southern Ring Nebula is a rim galaxy. Paola Rosa-Aquino/NASA, ESA, CSA and STScI
“I made a bet that said, ‘This is part of the nebula,'” said Carl Gordon, a NASA astronomer, at the time of the image’s unveiling. “I lost the bet because then we looked more closely at both the Nircam and MIRI images, and this is very clearly an edge-edge galaxy.” As Webb observes the edge of the galaxy, it appears as a long bluish thin line in the upper left corner of the image. Seen from this perspective, astronomers can study how the stars are distributed in a galaxy.
Webb scientists have yet to provide additional information about the galaxy photobombing the Southern Ring Nebula. “Wow. Wow. This. This near-infrared image is—wow,” said Alex Lockwood, project scientist, as he shared the two new images of the nebula on Tuesday.
The South Ring Nebula, imaged by Webb in mid-infrared light, produced by the remains of a dying star. NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI
Often described as the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, Webb launched on December 25, 2021 after more than two decades of development. Since then, the $10 billion telescope has traveled more than 1 million miles from Earth and is now in a gravitationally stable orbit, collecting infrared light. By collecting infrared light that is invisible to the human eye, Webb was able to pierce cosmic dust and see far into the past, to the first 400 million years after the Big Bang.
To demonstrate the telescope’s capabilities and show that the telescope is finally working, NASA debuted its first batch of full-color images. The powerful telescope captured two separate views of the Southern Ring Nebula, in both mid-infrared and near-infrared light.
The Southern Ring, or Burst Eight Nebula, is a bright envelope of gas and dust ejected into space by a dying star.
“As the star dies, in its final death throes, it begins to shake. It pulses. And at the end of it, poof, it comes out,” Klaus Pontoppidan, JWST project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, told reporters after the images were revealed. “You see what the star did just before it created this planetary nebula. I find it fascinating because it’s like geological layers and you can see the history of its last moments.”
Hubble’s image of the Southern Ring Nebula (left) has only one light in the center, while JWST (right) clearly shows two stars. The Hubble Legacy Team (STScI/AURA/NASA); NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI
The new images not only show this dying star in greater detail, but also revealed a second star gravitationally bound to it that was previously hidden from view. Astronomers said studying the once-hidden stars in detail would help them understand how they shaped the cloud of gas and dust.
Over the weekend, the JWST team began its first year of normal science operations. “Today, the Webb mission is open for science business,” said Michelle Thaler, associate director of science communications at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, adding, “And the best is yet to come.”
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