APOD: 2023 August 14 Б The Ring Nebula from Webb
Explanation:
The
Ring Nebula (M57),
is more complicated than it appears through a small telescope.
The easily visible
central ring is about one
light-year across,
but this remarkable exposure by the
James Webb Space Telescope explores this
popular nebula with a
deep exposure in
infrared light.
Strings of gas, like eyelashes around a cosmic eye,
become evident around the Ring
in this digitally enhanced featured image in assigned colors.
These long filaments
may be caused by shadowing
of knots of dense gas in the ring from energetic light emitted within.
The Ring Nebula is an elongated
planetary nebula, a type of gas cloud created when a
Sun-like star evolves to
throw off its outer atmosphere to become a
white dwarf star.
The central oval in the Ring Nebula lies about 2,500 light-years away toward the musical
constellation
Lyra.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
