Friday, July 22, 2022

NGC 3132 - The Southern Ring Nebula

NGC 3132 - The Southern Ring Nebula - NIRCam Image - A planetary nebula, seen by the Webb telescope’s NIRCam instrument, against the blackness of space, with points of starlight behind it. The nebula itself is shaped like an irregular oval, with lacy, reddish orange plumes of gas and dust. Further inside the circle, the gas and dust glows bright blue. A glowing white ring separates the red and blue gases. In the center of the rings are two stars, one glowing much brighter than the other, with diffraction spikes radiating out from it.
Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI

NGC 3132 - The Southern Ring Nebula - MIRI Image - A planetary nebula seen, by Webb’s MIRI, against the blackness of space, with points of starlight behind it. Plumes of glowing bright blue gas radiate out from the oval-shaped nebula. Two separate ovals of reddish pink gas appear stacked on top of each other, inside the lacy blue gas clouds. In the center of the nebula, two stars glow close to each other. One star looks more red, while the other appears more yellow.
Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI



NGC 3132 captured by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope
Credit: The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA/NASA)