Latest news with #NGC1514
Yahoo
20-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Space photo of the week: James Webb telescope reveals hidden past of the 'Crystal Ball Nebula'
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. What it is: NGC 1514, a planetary nebula Where it is: 1,500 light-years distant in the constellation Taurus When it was shared: April 14, 2025 Why it's so special: The death of a star can be the catalyst for one of the most beautiful sights in the universe. To see that, look no further than the latest images from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which recently turned its gaze toward a planetary nebula called NGC 1514. According to NASA, planetary nebulas form during the death of some stars as they expel their outer layers into space. Planetary nebulas like NGC 1514 are expanding shells of gas that form intricate shapes. NGC 1514 is sometimes called the Crystal Ball Nebula, but in this new image from Webb, it looks more like an hourglass or a ring. That's thanks to the extra details revealed by JWST's infrared optics, with its Mid-infrared Instrument (MIRI) in particular helping to draw out gas clouds and rings. Related: James Webb telescope spots Milky Way's long-lost 'twin' — and it is 'fundamentally changing our view of the early universe' In the center of the nebula is what looks like a single bright star. Appearances can be deceptive; it's actually a binary system, with the dense cores of two dying stars locked in a shared orbit. These stars — one still expelling its outer gas layers and the other a white dwarf, the hot remnant of a star that has used up its nuclear fuel — are responsible for what JWST can see only in infrared light. The white dwarf started as a star several times more massive than the sun. SEE MORE SPACE PHOTOS —Mars rises over the moon's horizon at the best possible time —The chaotic heart of the Milky Way like you've never seen it before —Hubble zooms in on the glittering galaxy next door "As it evolved, it puffed up, throwing off layers of gas and dust in a very slow, dense stellar wind," David Jones, a senior scientist at the Institute of Astrophysics on the Canary Islands, who found the binary star system in 2017, said in a statement. JWST offers scientists an unprecedented glimpse into the cosmos, revealing never-before-seen details even in objects that have previously been studied. "Before Webb, we weren't able to detect most of this material, let alone observe it so clearly," said Mike Ressler, a researcher and project scientist for Webb's MIRI at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in southern California. "With MIRI's data, we can now comprehensively examine the turbulent nature of this nebula." Ressler had noticed the rings around NGC 1514 in a much fuzzier and less detailed image taken in 2010 by NASA's now-retired Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). For more sublime space images, check out our Space Photo of the Week archives.
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
James Webb Space Telescope sees a celestial Venn diagram around a dying star
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. A stunning new image from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is allowing astronomers to examine the complex and turbulent final stages of a dying star's life. The snapshot above showcases NGC 1514, a planetary nebula that resides roughly 1,500 light-years from Earth in the constellation Taurus. Despite the term, however, NGC 1514 has nothing to do with planets. Instead, at its heart, there are two stars. These stars appear as a single point of light in the James Webb Space Telescope's view, and this point of light is encircled by an arc of orange dust. Of particular interest to astronomers is the nebula's faint, Venn-diagram-like structure — two rings of ejected material shaped by the gravitational influence of the central stars. Scientists say the rings offer a unique opportunity to dissect the complex interplay of stellar outflow over eons. "Before Webb, we weren't able to detect most of this material, let alone observe it so clearly," Mike Ressler, a project scientist for the JWST's MIRI instrument who discovered the rings in 2010 using a different NASA telescope, said in a statement. "With MIRI's data, we can now comprehensively examine the turbulent nature of this nebula." Previous observations of the binary system showed that the nine-year orbit of these two stars is one of the longest known for any planetary nebula. Astronomers suspect the nebula's formation was primarily driven by the more massive of the two stars. As that star aged, it likely underwent a dramatic expansion, shedding layers of gas and dust through its stellar wind and leaving behind a hot, compact core known as a white dwarf. The faster, weaker winds emanating from this white dwarf likely swept up the earlier, slower-moving material, forming clumpy, filamentary rings that are extremely faint and only visible in infrared light, according to the statement. The JWST's view also reveals a network of holes close to the central stars where faster-moving material punched through the slower, denser outer layers of ejected gas and dust. "When this star was at its peak of losing material, the companion star could have come exceptionally close," David Jones, a senior scientist at the Institute of Astrophysics on the Canary Islands, who proved there is a binary star system at the center of this planetary nebula in 2017, said in the statement. "That interaction can lead to shapes that you wouldn't expect — instead of producing a sphere, this interaction might have formed these rings." The two rings appear unevenly illuminated and textured in the JWST's data, likely composed of very small dust grains that are slightly heated by ultraviolet light emanating from the central white dwarf. "When those grains are hit by ultraviolet light from the white dwarf star, they heat up ever so slightly, which we think makes them just warm enough to be detected by Webb in mid-infrared light," Ressler said in the statement. The JWST's observations also detected oxygen in the nebula's clumpy pink center, but carbon as well as complex molecules like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons — typically expected in such nebulas — were notably absent. According to the statement, the long orbital period of the central binary stars may be responsible, as the extended orbit could have stirred the expelled material, preventing the formation of these more complex compounds. Related Stories: — 'Cosmic tornado' swirls in breathtaking new James Webb Space Telescope image — This star burped after eating a planet — but the planet was really asking for it — Scientists used JWST instruments 'wrong' on purpose to capture direct images of exoplanets The remarkable detail provided by observations like these has made the $10 billion JWST, NASA's largest and most powerful space telescope, more in demand than ever before, with astronomers requesting the equivalent of nine years' worth of observing time with the telescope in one operational year. This intense demand comes at a challenging time, however, as the JWST faces potential budget cuts of up to 20% despite being only halfway through its primary mission. These cuts, expected to take effect later this year, would impact all aspects of the observatory's work, from proposal reviews and data analysis to anomaly resolution and community engagement. "Frankly, this mission works far better than, really, most folks expected it to, you know," Tom Brown, who leads the JWST mission office at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Maryland, had told scientists during a town hall event in January at the annual American Astronomical Society conference. "It's extremely worrisome that, while we're in the middle of the prime mission, we're also maybe looking at significant budget cuts." These observations are also described in a paper published April 2 in The Astronomical Journal.
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Dying star's "previously unseen layers" visible in new NASA image
Spectacular new images from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope gave astronomers a detailed, never-before-seen look at a dying star. The star is actually one of two at the heart of NGC 1514, a nebula in the Taurus constellation about 1,500 light-years from Earth, NASA said in a news release. It is a white dwarf star that was once "several times more massive" than the Earth's sun. It has been in the process of dying for over 4,000 years, and "will continue to change over many more millennia," the space agency said. The stars are surrounded by diffraction spikes, which are the starburst-like radiating lines that appear around bright objects on telescope images. The stars follow a nine-year orbit and are surrounded by dust. The dust appears orange in the images. The slow decay of the star created much of the solar material visible in the new images. "As it evolved, it puffed up, throwing off layers of gas and dust in a very slow, dense stellar wind," said David Jones, a senior scientist at the Institute of Astrophysics on the Canary Islands, in the news release. It was Jones who determined that there were actually two stars at the center of the display. With the Webb Telescope's mid-infrared instrument, or MIRI, researchers were able to capture images of the star ejecting gas and dust in complete focus. They were also able to capture images of rings around the stars, which can only be seen with infrared light. The rings, imaged as fuzzy clumps in tangled patterns, couldn't be seen on camera until now, said Mike Ressler, a researcher and MIRI project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory who discovered the rings in 2010. "Before Webb, we weren't able to detect most of this material, let alone observe it so clearly," said Ressler in the news release. "With MIRI's data, we can now comprehensively examine the turbulent nature of this nebula." Ressler said he and other researchers believe the rings are "primarily made up of very small dust grains" that are heated by ultraviolet light from the dying white dwarf star. That heat would cause the grains to be just warm enough to be detected by the MIRI, Ressler said. The nebula appears to be tilted at a 60-degree angle, but NASA said it's more likely it "takes the shape of an hourglass with the ends lopped off." This is indicated by the shallow V-shapes created by some of the dust, NASA said. The telescope images also showed oxygen, which is visible as pink clumps at the edges of bubbles or holes. The MIRI also captured a bright blue star to the lower left. This small star is much closer to Earth than the stars at the heart of NGC 1514, and is not part of the nebula. There are also some notable things missing from the scene, NASA said. Carbon and its complex cousin, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, are common in nebulas like this, but neither were detected inside NGC 1514. This may be because the complex molecules could not form because of the stars' orbit. The lack of these materials is part of why the light from both stars reaches further, allowing the rings to be visible. Savannah Bananas pack stadiums with their zany twist on baseball | 60 Minutes Watch: Blue Origin's first all-women flight crew launches to space Suspect accused of setting fire to Pennsylvania Gov. Shapiro's residence denied bail
CBS News
15-04-2025
- Science
- CBS News
Dying star's "previously unseen layers" visible in new Webb space telescope image
Spectacular new images from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope gave astronomers a detailed, never-before-seen look at a dying star. The star is actually one of two at the heart of NGC 1514, a nebula in the Taurus constellation about 1,500 light-years from Earth, NASA said in a news release . It is a white dwarf star that was once "several times more massive" than the Earth's sun. It has been in the process of dying for over 4,000 years, and "will continue to change over many more millennia," the space agency said. The stars are surrounded by diffraction spikes, which are the starburst-like radiating lines that appear around bright objects on telescope images. The stars follow a nine-year orbit and are surrounded by dust. The dust appears orange in the images. The slow decay of the star created much of the solar material visible in the new images. "As it evolved, it puffed up, throwing off layers of gas and dust in a very slow, dense stellar wind," said David Jones, a senior scientist at the Institute of Astrophysics on the Canary Islands, in the news release. It was Jones who determined that there were actually two stars at the center of the display. With the Webb Telescope's mid-infrared instrument, or MIRI, researchers were able to capture images of the star ejecting gas and dust in complete focus. They were also able to capture images of rings around the stars, which can only be seen with infrared light. The rings, imaged as fuzzy clumps in tangled patterns, couldn't be seen on camera until now, said Mike Ressler, a researcher and MIRI project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory who discovered the rings in 2010. "Before Webb, we weren't able to detect most of this material, let alone observe it so clearly," said Ressler in the news release. "With MIRI's data, we can now comprehensively examine the turbulent nature of this nebula." Ressler said he and other researchers believe the rings are "primarily made up of very small dust grains" that are heated by ultraviolet light from the dying white dwarf star. That heat would cause the grains to be just warm enough to be detected by the MIRI, Ressler said. The nebula appears to be tilted at a 60-degree angle, but NASA said it's more likely it "takes the shape of an hourglass with the ends lopped off." This is indicated by the shallow V-shapes created by some of the dust, NASA said. The telescope images also showed oxygen, which is visible as pink clumps at the edges of bubbles or holes. The MIRI also captured a bright blue star to the lower left. This small star is much closer to Earth than the stars at the heart of NGC 1514, and is not part of the nebula. There are also some notable things missing from the scene, NASA said. Carbon and its complex cousin, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, are common in nebulas like this, but neither were detected inside NGC 1514. This may be because the complex molecules could not form because of the stars' orbit. The lack of these materials is part of why the light from both stars reaches further, allowing the rings to be visible.
