- 4111 - RING NEBUBLA - new studies using JWST? The James Webb Space Telescope has imaged the “Ring Nebula” as a glowing green and purple eye, presenting the familiar planetary nebula in an altogether new light. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) images show the Ring Nebula, known as Messier 57 (M57), located around 2,200 light-years away, in intricate detail that will surprise even astronomers who are familiar with the object.
-------------- 4111 - RING NEBUBLA - new studies using JWST?
- Located in the Lyra constellation, the Ring
Nebula is a popular target for space enthusiasts as its donut-shaped ring of
glowing gas and dust is visible even with small backyard telescopes throughout
the summer.
-
- The Ring Nebula is the glowing remains of a
long-dead star, a class of astronomical object called a "planetary
nebula," which somewhat confusingly has nothing to do with planets. At its
heart is a white speck that represents a white dwarf star, what remains of that
extinct stellar body's core.
-
- M57, Ring Nebula, is particularly
fascinating to astronomers because not only is it close enough to be viewed
with even amateur telescopes, but from our vantage point in the solar system,
the planetary nebula is tilted so that it is viewed face-on. That means that
observing the Ring Nebula with space telescopes offers astronomers the
opportunity to see what is going on within planetary nebula and shed light on
the life and death of stars.
-
- When stars of similar sizes to the sun
exhaust their fuel for nuclear fusion, they can no longer support themselves
against the inward force of their own gravity, ending the balancing act that
kept the star stable for as long as billions of years.
-
- As the core collapses, the outer layers of
the star, where nuclear fusion still proceeds, are blasted outwards. This
initially causes the star to swell out as a red giant, a phase which the sun
will undergo in around 5 billion years when it will puff out to around the orbit
of Mars, consuming the inner planets, including Earth.
-
- This outer shell of material eventually
cools and disperses to form a variety of different shapes, including wispy
clouds, expanding bubbles or ring-shaped nebulas like M57. What shape a
planetary nebula will take hinges on the complex physical processes occurring
within it.
-
- That means that observations of this system
give us a glimpse of what the solar system could look like in billions of
years. This is a preview of the sun's distant future, and JWST's observations have opened a new
window into understanding these awe-inspiring cosmic events.
-
- Astronomers can also glean information
about the chemical processes occurring in the planetary nebula by analyzing the
colors their gas and dust emit as the stars in their centers blast it with
radiation.
-
- The material in planetary nebulas like M57
is enriched with the heavy elements that are forged during the life of the dead
star that created it. Eventually, much of this matter will be incorporated into
huge clouds of gas and dust called interstellar clouds.
-
- When dense patches of these clouds condense
and collapse under their own gravity, they birth new stars that contain the
material from stellar predecessors. That means objects like the Ring Nebula can
weave a tale of stellar life and death.
-
- By studying the Ring Nebula with JWST, we
hope to gain a deeper understanding of the life cycles of stars and the
elements they release into the universe?
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-
August 4, 2023 RING NEBUBLA
- new studies using JWST? 4111
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