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James Webb Reveals Stunning Life Stages of Dying Star

1/26/2026

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Summary

Story summary

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) captured an image of the Helix Nebula, showing the stages of a sunlike star's life 655 light-years away in Aquarius.
The image highlights comet-like knots and gas transitions, illustrating how dying stars shed outer layers and seed the galaxy with elements.
Filters reveal temperature and chemical variations, with blue indicating hot gas near the center white dwarf and red showing cooler dust farther out.

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Story summary

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) captured an image of the Helix Nebula, showing the stages of a sunlike star's life 655 light-years away in Aquarius.
The image highlights comet-like knots and gas transitions, illustrating how dying stars shed outer layers and seed the galaxy with elements.
Filters reveal temperature and chemical variations, with blue indicating hot gas near the center white dwarf and red showing cooler dust farther out.