Ring Nebula (MIRI image)

The spectacular Ring Nebula, also known as M57 and NGC 6720, is roughly 1.3 light years from edge to edge, and is located relatively close to Earth at approximately 2,500 light-years away. It is an archetypal “planetary nebula” - that term originally given due to the planet-like appearance through small telescopes. Rather it is in fact the remains of a dying star shedding its outer layers while running out of fuel. Webb’s observations of this well-known nebula have captured it in unprecedented detail as well as revealed previously unknown complexity, namely that a companion star may be contained within that is helping sculpt the dying stars emissions. Studying nebulae such as this is akin to a kind of astronomical archeology, as astronomers decipher what remains, in order to understand the star that created it.