NASA's Webb looked again at the popular Southern Ring Nebula and finally found the hidden star that created it

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope captured the Southern Ring Nebula, about 2,500 light-years away, in one of its first released images in July 2022. The bright central star played only a supporting role — a second, fainter star hidden nearby was revealed as the nebula's true source, having ejected at least eight layers of gas and dust over thousands of years as the two stars orbited each other tightly. Webb's Mid-Infrared Instrument revealed the fainter star was wrapped in its own disk of dust, while hundreds of bright rays of starlight pierced through gaps in the surrounding gas and dust. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, and the Webb ERO Production Team; O. De Marco (Macquarie University), J. DePasquale (STScI), E. Wheatley (STScI)