Apologies, Birds of the Universe – James Webb’s Space Telescope puts ornithology aside and officially entered its era of entomology.
The Butterfly Nebula (officially designated NGC 6302) sparkles about 3,400 light years from Earth in the constellation Scorpio, is the song of the dying swan. At its heart is one of the hottest known stars in milky white. A white d star (formerly the collapsed shell of a star) smoldering at a temperature of over 220,000 Kelvin (nearly 400,000 degrees Fahrenheit). When it dies slowly, the star flows the outer layer as twin lobes of hot irradiated gases that form the butterfly’s glorious “wings.”
Scientists have previously observed the nebula with the Hubble Space Telescope, which captures the center of butterfly-like runoff and fiery stars in space. However, new infrared observations taken with James Webb’s Space Telescope (JWST) revealed previously invisible details. This allows the clear outline of the nebula central star, the “doughnuts” of dusty gas that swirl around it, and the energy of energy ignites into the universe.
Not only will JWST observations uncover new insights into the troublesome processes of star death, but it could also help researchers to better understand how Earth-like planetary components are recycled through space.
“This discovery is a major step forward in understanding how the basic materials of a planet come together,” said Matsumoto, a senior research author, astrophysicist at Cardiff University, in a statement. “We were able to see both cool gems formed in gentle, long-lasting zones, and fiery dirt made in violent, fast-moving parts of the universe within every object.”
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NGC 6302 is a planetary nebula, because early astronomers sometimes mistake a bright round object on a planet when viewed through a telescope at the time. In fact, there are no planets to see here. Only the dying star throwing the final tantrum.
Related: James Webb’s telescope image reveals that there is something strange in the interstellar comet 3i/atlas
When the giant star dies, they fuse heavier elements in their cores, eventually exploding the material into space and casting it. By analyzing the various components of the nebulae using JWST, the researchers discovered traces of quartz, iron, nickel and carbon-based molecules called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.
Researchers say these organic compounds can form when hot “bubbles” of wind from the central star hit the gas around them. These dusty particles could one day become a component of a rocky planet, researchers said.
The study was published on August 27th in the Royal Astronomical Society’s Monthly Notification Journal.
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