Galactic upcycling ♻️ Webb captured a new close-up of an old favorite, the Helix Nebula. We’ve seen this region before with telescopes like Hubble and the retired Spitzer Space Telescope, but Webb zooms into this dying star with a deeper, more detailed view. This image shows Webb’s view of the blistering winds of hot gas from a dying star crashing into colder shells of dust and gas that were shed earlier in the star’s life. Like oil trying to push through water, the differences in density (and speed) of the material give the nebula this incredible structure. Leftover cores of dying Sun-like stars like this one are called white dwarfs. While out of the frame, this white dwarf lies right at the heart of the nebula. Its radiation lights up the surrounding gas, creating an environment for complex molecules to form within dust clouds. This interaction is the catalyst for the raw material from which new planets may one day form in other star systems. It reminds us how stars recycle their material back into the cosmos. The iconic Helix Nebula has been imaged by many ground- and space-based observatories since it was discovered nearly two decades ago. The nebula is also a popular target of amateur astronomers and can be seen with binoculars as a ghostly, greenish cloud in the constellation Aquarius. Read more: science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/intricacies-of-helix-nebul... Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI) Image description: A closeup of a small section of the Helix Nebula, an expanding shell of gas and dust. Thousands of orange and gold comet-like pillars stream upward from the bottom, like thin liquid blown up a sheet of glass. These pillars are around the circumference of the arced shell, which forms a partial orange semi-circle at the bottom. The pillars are more numerous and denser at the bottom, and darker red. They fade to orange and then yellow in the arc. In the top two-thirds, they are thinner and more golden, and it’s easier to see the black background of space. Several bright blue stars, some with diffraction spikes, are scattered throughout. A few larger stars are on the right side.
