Webb telescope reveals stunning dust rings in distant Nebula

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has captured the most detailed image to date of the planetary nebula NGC 1514, located about 1,500 light-years away.

Discovered in 1790 by British astronomer William Herschel, NGC 1514 looked unlike other nebulae in the sky. Herschel described it as a faint atmosphere surrounding a single star.

Over more than two centuries, this mysterious nebula has been observed with many telescopes, but it was JWST's mid-infrared observations that provided a clearer look.

BINARY STAR SYSTEM AND GHOSTLY RINGS

At the center of the nebula lies what appears to be a single star in the images, but it is actually two closely bound stars. One of them, several times more massive than the Sun, ejected its outer layers into space as it neared the end of its life, forming the surrounding nebula. Observations in 2017 confirmed it as a binary star system.

Today, one of the stars has become a white dwarf, while the other continues its life as a giant star in the horizontal branch phase.

JWST REVEALS RING STRUCTURES

NASA's WISE (Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) previously discovered two rings around NGC 1514, visible only in infrared. But JWST's MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) has now captured them in much sharper detail.

Scientists found that the rings are filled with filamentary and irregular structures, interwoven with surrounding nebular material. Lead author and NASA Jet Propulsion Lab scientist Michael Ressler noted, "Before Webb, we couldn't see these structures in such detail," emphasizing JWST's high-resolution capabilities.

RINGS FORMED BY STELLAR WINDS, NOT COLLISIONS

New data shows that the light emitted from the rings comes primarily from the thermal radiation of dust particles. Very little evidence was found of hydrogen or complex carbon line emissions, typically seen in planetary nebulae.

This suggests that the rings were shaped not by shockwaves, but by chaotic yet powerful stellar winds. While there's no definitive explanation yet for how the rings formed, scientists believe mass loss in the binary system, followed by fast stellar winds and gas jets, could have contributed to the creation of these ring structures.

"A UNIQUE AND COMPLEX NEBULA"

Researchers say the rings are cold and dusty formations embedded in NGC 1514's outer shell. The study was published in the Astronomical Journal.

The new data from JWST offers crucial insights into the evolution of planetary nebulae. Scientists believe future observations of similar structures could reveal more about the origins of such formations.