Are we looking at the future of our
Sun?
The
James Webb Space Telescope
captured
today’s composite image
of the Lion’s Head Nebula
(
NGC 2392)
with its
NIRCam and
MIRI
instruments. The Lion’s Head Nebula is the
remnant of a Sun-like star.
This star was unable to sustain the
nuclear fusion
in its core needed to remain stable. It began to shed layers of gas and dust into space,
forming this
planetary nebula.
A hot stellar core, called a
white dwarf,
is left behind within the lion’s nose. Do not
boop
this nose! Intense radiation from the white dwarf is
ionizing
the gas as it expands, creating the irregular bubble that makes up the lion’s face.
Dust clumps
that have survived the white dwarf’s radiation and a cloud of ionized gas make up the lion’s mane. This
new and more detailed view
of the nebula will help humanity learn more about how the gas and dust interact with each other and the white dwarf radiation.