{"id":580716,"date":"2026-08-26T08:54:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T08:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/580716\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T08:54:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T08:54:10","slug":"apod-2026-august-26-jwst-images-the-lions-head-nebula","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/580716\/","title":{"rendered":"APOD: 2026 August 26 &#8211; JWST Images The Lion&#8217;s Head Nebula"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p-md margin-0 media-detail-hero__description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tExplanation: Are we looking at the future of our <a href=\"https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/sun\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sun<\/a>? The <a href=\"https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/mission\/webb\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">James Webb Space Telescope<\/a> captured <a href=\"https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/missions\/webb\/lion-nebula-roars-to-life-with-nasas-webb\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">today\u2019s composite image<\/a> of the Lion\u2019s Head Nebula (<a href=\"https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/image-article\/apod-2020-february-16-ngc-2392-double-shelled-planetary-nebula\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NGC 2392<\/a>) with its <a href=\"https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/mission\/webb\/nircam\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NIRCam<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/mission\/webb\/mid-infrared-instrument-miri\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">MIRI<\/a> instruments. The Lion\u2019s Head Nebula is the <a href=\"https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/asset\/webb\/life-cycles-of-sun-like-and-massive-stars\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">remnant of a Sun-like star<\/a>. This star was unable to sustain the <a href=\"https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/universe\/stars\/#life\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">nuclear fusion<\/a> in its core needed to remain stable. It began to shed layers of gas and dust into space, forming this <a href=\"https:\/\/esahubble.org\/wordbank\/planetary-nebula\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">planetary nebula<\/a>. A hot stellar core, called a <a href=\"https:\/\/imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov\/science\/objects\/dwarfs1.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">white dwarf<\/a>, is left behind within the lion\u2019s nose. Do not <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reels\/DVRSVzOjDXp\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">boop<\/a> this nose! Intense radiation from the white dwarf is <a href=\"https:\/\/astronomy.swin.edu.au\/cosmos\/*\/Ionisation\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">ionizing<\/a> the gas as it expands, creating the irregular bubble that makes up the lion\u2019s face. <a href=\"https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/image-article\/apod-august-4-2026-curious-cometary-knots-in-the-helix-nebula\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dust clumps<\/a> that have survived the white dwarf\u2019s radiation and a cloud of ionized gas make up the lion\u2019s mane. This <a href=\"https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/image-article\/apod-2000-january-24-ngc-2392-from-the-newly-fixed-hubble\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">new and more detailed view<\/a> of the nebula will help humanity learn more about how the gas and dust interact with each other and the white dwarf radiation.<\/p>\n<p>Tomorrow&#8217;s picture: a waterfall of light\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Explanation: Are we looking at the future of our Sun? The James Webb Space Telescope captured today\u2019s composite&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":580717,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[271739,111,139,69,147,392],"class_list":["post-580716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-apod","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=580716"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580716\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/580717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=580716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=580716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=580716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}