Red Spider Nebula glows in ethereal new JWST image

Space spider got caught in some kind of web. In particular, James Webb Space Telescope. The telescope's sophisticated near-infrared camera (NIRCam) has revealed some previously unseen details NGC 6537, also known as the Red Spider Nebula. The image is detailed in study published today in Astrophysical Journal.

Planetary nebulae are formed when ordinary stars, such as our Sun, reach the end of their lives. After swelling in the cool red giantsthese stars will shed their outer layers, sending debris into space. All that will be left when these outer layers disappear is the star's white-hot core. Ultraviolet light emanating from the central star causes the glow. planetary nebula The life phase of a star lasts only a few tens of thousands of years—essentially, the blink of an eye. space conditions.

Red Spider Nebula is located approximately 3000 light years from Earth in the constellation Sagittarius. In this new imageThe nebula's central star glows slightly brighter than the web of dusty gas surrounding it. JWST's NIRCam camera captured an exceptionally hot and bright central star. In previous images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, the central the star appears dimmer and bluer. However, NIRCam images show it in more detailed red, thanks to the camera's sensitive near-infrared capabilities. JWST also detected a blanket of hot dust surrounding the central star, which is likely orbiting the central star in a disk-shaped pattern.

Credit: ESA/Webb and CSA, J. H. Kastner (Rochester Institute of Technology), G. Mellema (Leiden University, The Netherlands), N. Bartmann (Esa/Webb)
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According to the European Space Agency (ESA) Although one star is visible at the center of the Red Spider Nebula, a hidden companion star may be lurking nearby. Such a stellar companion could explain the nebula's shape, including its narrow, hourglass-like waist and wide outflows. This shape has been observed in other planetary nebulae, such as the Butterfly Nebula.

This new view of the Red Spider Nebula shows for the first time the full extent of its elongated lobes. These the lobes form the “legs” of the spider and are shown in blue. They can be detected using light emitted by H2 molecules in which two hydrogen atoms are bonded to each other. When you look closely at the lobes using NIRCam, they appear to be enclosed, bubble-like structures, each extending over about three light years. Over thousands of years, gas escaping from the nebula's center inflated these massive bubbles.

The central region of the planetary nebula is shown in the box. The labels indicate “Shock Waves”, “Exhaust Collisions” and “Ionized Jet” in the dust on either side of the nebula. Closer to the center are marked “Dusty Torus” and “Ionized Torus”. In the very middle is a faint spot inside a mottled pink cloud with the words “Dying Star” written on it. Bright stars surround the nebula and can be seen through layers of dust. *Image: ESA/Webb, NASA and CSA, J. H. Kastner (Rochester Institute of Technology).*

Gas also escapes from the center of the nebula. The elongated purple S at the nebula's center reflects light from ionized iron atoms. This feature shows where a fast-moving jet escaped from the nebula's central star and collided with material that had previously been ejected by the star.

The observations used to create this image were taken from Webb GO. #4571 (FI: J. Kastner) as part of the Chandra-JWST joint observing program.