This image is one of the first images from the new James Webb Space Telescope. It shows the planetary nebula NGC 3132 – what remains of a sun-like star at the end of its life cycle.
When a star like our sun has used up the fuel for its nuclear fusion, the end begins: the star first expands into a red giant and then begins to eject more and more parts of its shell into space in periodic eruptions. These clouds then form a shell of glowing gas and dust. Eventually, the star became so unstable that its core collapsed, leaving only a white dwarf surrounded by the glowing clouds of the planetary nebula.
This image was acquired by the James Webb Telescope’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam). It shows the planetary nebula NGC 3132, also known as the Southern Ring Nebula, about 2,500 light-years away from us. The source of this cloud, which is almost circular from our point of view, is the star that can be seen to the left of the center at the transition from the brownish to the bluish area. It has ejected at least eight times over the course of thousands of years gas and dust that now form the Planetary Nebula. If you were to look at it from the side, it would look more like two bowls touching the bottom.
A second, much brighter star can be seen in the center of the Ring Nebula. It forms a binary star system with its older partner, but is not yet that advanced in its stellar evolution. Therefore, this star has not shed its sheaths yet. Nevertheless, it also contributes significantly to the shape of the planetary nebula: the mutual orbiting of the two stars “stirs” the glowing gases to a certain extent and gives the nebula an asymmetry.