New images of a dying star at the centre of a well-known planetary nebula 2,600 light years from Earth have revealed structures that no previous telescope could detect, according to an international team of scientists, who released the images on Thursday 3 August 2023.
The team, which includes researchers at Cardiff University's School of Physics and Astronomy, say the images of the Ring Nebula captured by JWST between July and August 2022 provide never-before-seen detail of its structure.
While the variety of structures and phases revealed in the images share characteristics with other well-studied nebulae, the researchers say the time when planetary nebulae could be modelled as uniform density spheres is long gone.
Dr Roger Wesson, a Research Associate at Cardiff University's School of Physics and Astronomy who led the analysis, said: "These new images taken with JWST show incredibly complex structures in the form of arcs, spikes, wisps and clumps, all formed as a dying star throws off its outer layers."
