Webb space telescope captures Red Spider Nebula

The James Webb Space Telescope has captured a stunning image of the Red Spider Nebula, designated as NGC 6537, a planetary nebula at a distance of about 3,000 lightyears in the constellation of Sagittarius. Such planetary nebulae are formed from the violent deaths of massive stars, where an old, swollen star runs out of fuel and violently sheds its outer layers. While the gas and dust obscures light in most frequencies, infrared light passes through easily, making it a suitable target for Webb. The flagship deep space observatory has revealed details never before resolved in the nebula, that is sitting in a field of background stars. 

Humans are lucky to be getting a glimpse of this spectacular nebula as these are fleeting phases in the evolution of a star, lasting for only a few tens of thousands of years before dissipating. At the core of the nebula, the dying star is stripping away electrons from the surrounding gas and dust. Although only one star is visible in the image, scientists suspect that the features of the nebula can be explained by a binary companion. The pair of lobes extending from the central star are comprised of material ejected over thousands of years by the dying star. The purple S shape is from ionised iron atoms, while the blue lobes are glowing in the light of molecular hydrogen gas. 

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The central star is estimated to have a temperature of around 160,000 K and is surrounded by a torus of gas and dust. The superheated central star is emitting energetic ultraviolet light, which has ionised the surrounding regions. The remainder of the nebula is much cooler, and is cooling down further as it expands. Interactions between the outflows have resulted in shockwaves throughout the nebula. Each of the lobes extend for a distance of about three lightyears. The observations were conducted as part of a joint study by Webb and the Chandra X-ray observatory to understand how planetary nebulae are shaped by the outflows and jets from the central star.