This Lion-Like Nebula Has Cosmic Dust for a Mane and a Dying Star for a Face
A portrait taken over 5,000 light-years The post This Lion-Like Nebula Has Cosmic Dust for a Mane and a Dying Star for a Face appeared first on Nautilus .
The nebula known as NGC 2392, resembling a lion with cosmic dust for a mane and a dying star for a face, has been captured in stunning detail by the James Webb Telescope. The outer "mane" is composed of ionized gas and elongated strands of dust ejected from the star's remnants, while the "face" and "nose" are the white dwarf's ultra-hot core.
This planetary nebula, officially nicknamed the Lion Nebula by NASA, is about 5,000 light-years away from Earth in the Gemini constellation. The Webb Telescope's infrared imaging reveals more detail about the dust and gas being blown away from the star's core, which is powered by its unstable energy. This process is similar to the eventual fate of our own sun, but NGC 2392 is a particularly striking planetary nebula.
It has been decaying for about the same 10,000-year period that it has already existed. First observed by astronomer William Herschel in 1787, the nebula's bubbles near the center are believed to be around a light-year long and half a light-year wide. Only a portion of the dust escapes destruction and becomes part of the dust we see in the universe today.
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