{"id":242408,"date":"2025-11-04T01:33:04","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T01:33:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/242408\/"},"modified":"2025-11-04T01:33:04","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T01:33:04","slug":"a-new-image-of-the-red-spider-nebula-captures-the-radiance-of-a-dying-star-colossal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/242408\/","title":{"rendered":"A New Image of the Red Spider Nebula Captures the Radiance of a Dying Star \u2014 Colossal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When viewed through early telescopes, some nebula appeared round, so astronomers in the 18th and 19th centuries likened them to planets. These so-called <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Planetary_nebula\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">planetary nebulae<\/a>, having actually nothing to do with planets, are formed when a star\u2014of a type similar to the Sun\u2014emits huge amounts of ionized gases as it reaches the end of its life.<\/p>\n<p>In late October, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/tags\/james-webb-space-telescope\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">James Webb Space Telescope<\/a>\u2019s Near-InfraRed Camera (NIRCam) captured this dramatic and beautiful phase occurring in what\u2019s known as the Red Spider Nebula, or NGC 6537.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1493\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/webb-1.jpg\" alt=\"a detail of the bright nucleus star of the Red Spider Nebula, captured by the Webb space telescope\" class=\"wp-image-464842\"  \/>The bright star at the center of the Red Spider Nebula<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter ballooning into cool red giants, these stars shed their outer layers and cast them into space, exposing their white-hot cores,\u201d scientists say. Ultraviolet light from the star then causes the material to glow as it\u2019s cast off into space. \u201cThe planetary nebula phase of a star\u2019s life is as fleeting as it is beautiful, lasting only a few tens of thousands of years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Webb\u2019s newest image of the Red Spider Nebula, named for its wide lobes that form the \u201clegs\u201d of its namesake, shows hot dust likely orbiting the central star. \u201cThough only a single star is visible in the Red Spider\u2019s heart, a hidden companion star may lurk there as well,\u201d a statement says. \u201cA stellar companion could explain the nebula\u2019s shape, including its characteristic narrow waist and wide outflows.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Learn more on the NASA\/ESA\/CSA James Webb Space Telescope <a href=\"https:\/\/esawebb.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">website<\/a>, where you can explore many more images. (via <a href=\"https:\/\/petapixel.com\/2025\/10\/31\/webb-embraces-spooky-season-with-red-spider-nebula-portrait\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">PetaPixel<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1558\" height=\"1373\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/webb-2.jpeg\" alt=\"a detail of a gas cloud of the Red Spider Nebula, captured by the Webb space telescope\" class=\"wp-image-464843\"  \/>A detail of gas emitted from the nebula, surrounded by other stars<\/p>\n<p>Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/members\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"118516\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Colossal Member<\/a> now, and support independent arts publishing.<\/p>\n<p>Hide advertising<\/p>\n<p>Save your favorite articles<\/p>\n<p>Get 15% off in the <a href=\"https:\/\/colossal.shop\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Colossal Shop<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Receive members-only newsletter<\/p>\n<p>Give 1% for art supplies in K-12 classrooms<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When viewed through early telescopes, some nebula appeared round, so astronomers in the 18th and 19th centuries likened&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":242409,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[1813,10559,92,90,416,1588,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-242408","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-astronomy","9":"tag-james-webb-space-telescope","10":"tag-nasa","11":"tag-science","12":"tag-space","13":"tag-stars","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}