NASA’s Webb Traces Details of Complex Planetary Nebula
Since their discovery at the end of the 1700s, astronomers have learned that planetary nebulae, or the shiny ray of shiny gas expelled by a mass star with low intermediate at the end of his life, can come from all forms and sizes. Most planetary nebulae present themselves as circular, elliptical or bipolar, but some are moving away from the standard, as we can see in the new high resolution images of the planetary nebulae by the James Webb space telescope of NASA.
The most recent webb look at the planetary nebula NGC 6072 in the quasi-infrared, shows what can appear as a very disorderly scene resembling splashed. However, the unusual and asymmetrical appearance alludes to more complicated mechanisms in progress, while the central star of the scene approaches the very final stages of his life and expels shells of equipment, losing up to 80% of his mass. Astronomers use webb to study planetary nebula to learn more about the full life cycle of stars and how they have an impact on their surrounding environments.
First of all, taking a look at the image of Nircam de Webb (near infrared camera), it is obvious that this nebula is multipolar. This means that there are several different elliptical outings that flow in both directions from the center, one from 11 a.m. to 5 a.m., another from 1 p.m. to 7 a.m., and perhaps a third from 12 p.m. to 6 am. Outings can compress the equipment as you go, which causes a perpendicular disc.
Astronomers say that this is proof that there are probably at least two stars at the center of this scene. More specifically, a companion star interacts with an aging star that had already started to lose some of its external layers of gas and dust.
The central region of the planetary nebula shines with hot stellar nucleus, considered a light blue shade in an infrared light. The dark orange material, which is made up of gas and dust, follows pockets or open areas that seem in dark blue. This bridge could be created when dense molecular clouds have been formed while being protected from the hot radiation of the central star. There could also be a temporal element at stake. Over the thousands of years, fast interior winds could penetrate through the halo which started from the main star when it started to lose mass.
The longer wavelengths captured by Miri de Webb (median infrared instrument) highlight the dust, revealing that the suspect of star researchers could be at the heart of this scene. It appears as a small rosé-white point in this image.
The webb look in medium infrared wavelengths also reveals concentric rings extending from the central region, the most obvious by surrounding just after the edges of the lobes.
This can be additional proof of a secondary star in the center of the hidden scene from our point of view. The secondary star, while it revolves several times around the original star, could have been silent of material rings in a Bullseye pattern while the main star expelling the mass during a previous stage of its life.
The rings can also refer to a kind of pulsation which has led to the expulsion of gas or dust evenly in all directions separated by say thousands of years.
The red areas of the Nircam and Blue areas of Miri draw the two fresh molecular gases (probably molecular hydrogen) while the central regions trace hot ionized gas.
While the star in the center of a planetary nebula cools off and fades, the nebula will gradually dissipate in the interstellar environment – contributing an enriched material which helps to form new stars and planetary systems, now containing these heavier elements.
Webb imagery of NGC 6072 opens the door to study how planetary nebulae with more complex forms contribute to this process.
The James Webb space telescope is the world’s leading world science observatory. Webb solves mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond the distant worlds around other stars, and probe the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).
To find out more on webb, visit:
https://science.nasa.gov/webb
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Show / download all image products to all resolutions For this article in the Space Telescope Science Institute.
Laura Betz – laura.e.betz@nasa.gov
Goddard Space Flight Center of NASA, Greenbelt, MD.
Hannah Braun – hbraun@scsci.edu
Science Institute of the Space Telescope, Baltimore, MD.
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