This three-panel look at the Red Spider Nebula showcases Hubble’s views (left), early JWST NIRCam views (center), and the full official science release from JWST’s NIRCam study (right). Details, including the full extent of the lobes, ionization features in the center, switchbacks in the outflows, and an intense temperature gradient can all be seen in the JWST data; less so in the Hubble image. (Credits: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, G. Mellema (Leiden University, the Netherlands), J. H. Kastner (Rochester Institute of Technology); Acknowledgement: Melina Thévenot)
When dying, Sun-like stars have binary companions, spectacular sights arise from the ionization. JWST spots the Red Spider Nebula in action!
All throughout the cosmos, planetary nebulae appear.
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When lower-mass, Sun-like stars run out of fuel, they blow off their outer layers in a planetary nebula, but the center contracts down to form a white dwarf, which takes a very long time to fade to darkness. Some white dwarfs will shine for trillions of years; others are on their way to an inevitable supernova when they collide with another white dwarf or accumulate enough mass to detonate. (Credit: NASA/ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI))
After its formation some 4.6 billion years ago, the Sun has grown in radius by approximately 14%. It will continue to grow, doubling in size when it becomes a subgiant, but it will increase in size by more than 100-fold when it becomes a true red giant in another 7-to-8 billion years, total, all while growing in brightness by a factor of at least a few hundred. At the end of its life, it will expel its outer layers as its core contracts to a white dwarf, eventually triggering ionization of the surrounding material. (Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser)
This animation shows how significant the fading of the Stingray Nebula has been since 1996. Note the background star, just to the upper left of the central, fading white dwarf, which remains constant over time, which confirms that the nebula itself is dimming significantly. (Credit: NASA, ESA, B. Balick (University of Washington), M. Guerrero (Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía), and G. Ramos-Larios (Universidad de Guadalajara))
After blowing off its gaseous outer layers, its core contracts.
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The Egg Nebula, as imaged here by Hubble, is a preplanetary nebula, as its outer layers have not yet been heated to sufficient temperatures by the central, contracting star to become fully ionized. Many of the giant stars visible today will evolve into a nebula like this before shedding their outer layers completely and dying in a white dwarf/planetary nebula combination. Despite its name, neither this nor the more-evolved planetary nebulae have anything to do with planets. (Credit: NASA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), Hubble Space Telescope/ACS)
