2023-08-04 13:58 Lianhe News Network corner 24 hours The Webb Space Telescope photographed the M57 Ring Nebula, showing unprecedented clarity. Figure / NASA
▌The splendor of the universe 2,600 light-years away: The moment of star death witnessed by the Webb Space Telescope
“Witness the last splendor of a star before it dies.” On August 3, NASA released the latest photos sent back by the Webb Space Telescope (JWST).M57 Ring Nebula. The nebula is the product of the star entering the final stage of its life evolution cycle, and the detailed structure captured by the Webb telescope is not only extremely spectacular, but also allows the scientific community to observe and explore the last moment of the star’s life in depth—this is also the sun. Will usher in the same fate within 6 billion years.
▌Extended reading: “Finding the “Cosmic Dawn”: The 13 billion-year-old oldest galaxy photographed by the Webb Space Telescope>
The Webb Space Telescope sent back a batch of latest photos. NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) released processed images on August 3. The M57 ring, which is about 2,600 light-years away from the earth, was photographed. The photo captures, in unprecedented detail, the halo of gas that formed the nebula and the white dwarf in between – the remnant core of a star after it has exhausted its nuclear fuel, such as hydrogen, and is extremely hot, dense, and emits ultraviolet light and X-rays, causing the gas it has expelled to surround and ionize to glow brightly and colorfully, which is the purple and green Ring Nebula pictured here.
A white dwarf is the last stage of a star’s life, and the sun will also run out of hydrogen within 6 billion years and enter the same fate-after the hydrogen is exhausted and hydrogen fusion can no longer be used to generate energy, the sun will expand into a red giant star with a large outer layer After part of the matter gets rid of the original gravity, it will also form a luminousplanetary nebulawith colorful halos, continuously expanding gas, and staggered sparse cloud-like structures, the remaining core becomes a white dwarf.
The M57 captured by the Webb Space Telescope evolved from a star about the size of the sun about 20,000 years ago. It is about 2,600 light-years away from the earth. It was first discovered by human observation in 1779. It is located in the direction of Lyra, The best time to observe is in August. It is relatively easy to observe for astronomy enthusiasts, and it is distinguished by its donut-shaped halo.
Unlike other nebulae that can be observed from Earth, M57’s tilt angle allows observers on Earth to see its frontal profile, and scientists can observe the physical process of the gradual death of stars in it.
The U.S. Postal Service has launched a new postage stamp for the Webb Space Telescope on September 8, 2022. Figure / Agence France-Presse Hubble Space Telescope in 1998 photographed M57. Figure / NASA
As for the M57 ring nebula in the photo, it was formed about 4,000 years ago. The near-infrared camera of the Webb Space Telescope not only captured the nebula expansion structure that could not be clearly observed in the past, but also showed the inner region of the nebula around the central white dwarf star.
In the past, M57 was much blurred with the Hubble Telescope. It can be seen that there are many different chemical elements in the nebula, such as helium, nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen, sulfur, etc., which emit light of different specific colors. , and there is a small white dot in the middle of the aperture, which is a white dwarf. The latest photos returned by the Webb telescope are even more detailed. The research team saw hundreds of mysterious streak-like features, most of which point to the white dwarf in the middle. It is still unclear how these “streaks” are formed.
Albert Zijlstra, a professor of astrophysics at the University of Manchester, said to the photos of M57 returned by the Webb telescope:
“We were amazed at the detail in the image, better than we’ve ever seen before… We’ve always known planetary nebulae are beautiful, and what we’re seeing now is simply spectacular.”
Dr. Cox, co-chief scientist of the Webb Telescope Nebula Imaging Project, said:
“These images are not just beautiful, they also provide a wealth of scientific insight into stellar evolution; by studying the Ring Nebula with Webb, we hope to gain a deeper understanding of the life cycle of stars and the elements they release into the universe. “
In the photos recently sent back by the Webb Space Telescope, there is a celestial body that looks like a question mark “?”. Figure / NASA
Since the Webb Space Telescope was launched into space on December 25, 2021, the full-color galaxy photos released for the first time have amazed the astronomy community.“Gravity Lens Effect”(gravitational lensing), taking a picture of a galaxy 13 billion light-years away; this also means that the light in the photo was emitted 13 billion years ago, which is close to the big bang that occurred 13.8 billion years ago, which means that the photo almost looks back Reaching the beginning of the universe is the oldest record of the universe so far.
Recently, the scientific team of the Webb Telescope also released the Herbig-Haro 46/47 celestial photo on June 26, 2023, showing two stars that are forming in the Vela Constellation 1,470 light-years away from the Earth, and Interestingly, in this photo, there is also a celestial body that looks like a question mark “?”; scientists have not yet clarified what the “cosmic question mark” is actually. Baltimore, who is in charge of managing the Webb TelescopeSpace Telescope Science Institute(STScI) speculates that the “cosmic question mark” may be a distant galaxy, or two interacting galaxies, visually distorted in the shape of a question mark due to gravitational interaction.
STScI added:
“This may be the first time we’ve seen something special like this…We have more work to do to figure out what it is. What Webb is showing us is many newer, more distant galaxies ——so there is more scientific exploration waiting to be done!” At present, scientists have not yet clarified what this “cosmic question mark” actually is.Photo/NASA in the past 24 hours behind the lens America
