The Helix Nebula interior ring – credit, NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; Image Processing Alyssa Pagan (STScI)
In a new image taken by the James Webb Space Telescope, the dying breaths of the star at the heart of the famous Helix Nebula are exposed in wonder and radiance.
Imaged many times by previous space telescopes, including Hubble and Spitzer, the Helix Nebula is loved for its similarity to the Eye of Sauron from The Lord of the Rings films.
Rather than a physical manifestation of evil, the Helix Nebula is a white dwarf star that’s in the final stages of life.
The circular shape reminiscent of an iris is made up of layers of gas and dust, with the hottest material taking on a blue color, and the coldest a red hue.
A new image by James Webb’s NIRcam instrument takes the detail to a whole new level, with streaks of ionized gas colliding with a ring of cooler material where hydrogen atoms fuse to make molecules in a deep orange color.
At first, it appears like columns of gaseous projectiles—like fireworks or comets, streaking upwards from a burning surface, but when combined with a second image taken from the ground-based Visible and Infrared Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA), one sees that they perceive it in reverse.
The Helix Nebula interior ring – credit, ESO, VISTA, NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, J. Emerson (ESO); Acknowledgment CASU
The Helix Nebula by Hubble – credit, NASA
The comet-like figures are actually steaming out towards the orange mass before cooling and floating out into space as a red haze where it will seed a new generation of stars and planets, millions of years from now.
“Together,” NASA wrote in an article on the image, “the colors show the star’s final breath transforming into the raw ingredients for new worlds, adding to the wealth of knowledge gained from Webb about the origin of planets.”
At 650 light years from Earth, the Helix Nebula has been observable with telescopes for the last 200 years.
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