{"id":446529,"date":"2026-02-26T11:08:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T11:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/446529\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T11:08:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T11:08:09","slug":"webbs-latest-photos-are-among-its-most-incredible-yet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/446529\/","title":{"rendered":"Webb’s Latest Photos Are Among its Most Incredible Yet"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Side-by-side<\/p>\n

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has captured plenty of incredible, jaw-dropping photos<\/a> since its first five images<\/a> were published in July 2022. But few have been quite as spectacular and otherworldly as Webb\u2019s latest shots of Nebula PMR 1, a rarely-studied nebula nicknamed the \u201cExposed Cranium.\u201d <\/p>\n

This nebula was first captured in infrared light by one of Webb\u2019s predecessors, NASA\u2019s now-retired Spitzer Space Telescope, over a decade ago. Armed with billions of dollars of sophisticated technology, JWST has unveiled the Exposed Cranium nebula in exquisite detail using two of its imaging instruments, NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) and MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument). <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The two photos show the nebula in dramatically different ways. NIRCam\u2019s shot shows the nebula in a way not unlike the Palant\u00edri that Sauron used in \u201cThe Lord of the Rings.\u201d Meanwhile, MIRI\u2019s portrait of the Exposed Cranium nebula is much brighter, revealing different details inside the nebula. In both cases, the photos showcase incredible resolution. <\/p>\n

\"ANASA\u2019s now-retired Spitzer Space Telescope captured this image of PMR 1 in 2013. It was Spitzer scientists who gave it the \u2018Exposed Cranium\u2019 nickname. While this image was a remarkable achievement at the time, it also highlights just how far technology has come, given what the James Webb Space Telescope achieved with its NIRCam and MIRI instruments. | Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/J. Hora (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA) <\/p>\n

\u201cThe nebula appears to have distinct regions that capture different phases of its evolution \u2014 an outer shell of gas that was blown off first and consists mostly of hydrogen, and an inner cloud with more structure that contains a mix of different gases,\u201d NASA explains<\/a>. \u201cBoth Webb\u2019s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) and MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) show a distinctive dark lane running vertically through the middle of the nebula that defines its brain-like look of left and right hemispheres.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Thanks to Webb\u2019s resolution, scientists have determined that PMR 1 is \u201cbeing created by a star near the end of its fuel-burning \u2018life.’\u201d <\/p>\n

When stars are nearing the end of their lives, they expel their outer layers. This dynamic, often beautiful process, is relatively short-lived on the cosmic timescale. The James Webb Space Telescope has captured two equally interesting, albeit different portraits of this star\u2019s march toward death. <\/p>\n

\"APMR 1, the Exposed Cranium Nebula, as captured by Webb\u2019s NIRCam. \"AMIRI\u2019s take on the Exposed Cranium Nebula. <\/p>\n

Scientists aren\u2019t yet sure of the star\u2019s mass, so they can\u2019t predict exactly how the star will ultimately die. If it has sufficient mass, it will explode in a supernova. But if it\u2019s less massive, more like the Sun, it will continually shed layers until only its core remains \u2014 a dense white dwarf that cools off \u201cover eons.\u201d <\/p>\n

Image credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has captured plenty of incredible, jaw-dropping photos since its first five images…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":446530,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[22824,22825,92,22826,22827,90,416,162077,56,54,55,22828],"class_list":["post-446529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-jameswebbspacetelescope","tag-jwst","tag-nasa","tag-nebula","tag-planetarynebula","tag-science","tag-space","tag-spitzer","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-webb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446529","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=446529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446529\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/446530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=446529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=446529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=446529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}