Messier 57 : New Image
Astronomers used the James Webb Space Telescope to capture new image of Messier 57, more popularly known as the Ring Nebula.
- Messier 57 is about 2,000 light-years away in the constellation Lyra and was discovered in 1779.
- The object is exceptionally bright and can be spotted with moderately-sized telescopes.
- It was born from a dying star that expelled its outer layers into space, making it a planetary nebula.
- Planetary nebulae come in a variety of shapes and patterns, some that include delicate glowing rings, wispy clouds and expanding bubbles.
- James Webb Space Telescope was built in collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency and was launched in December 2021.
- It is presently at a point in space known as the Sun-Earth L2 Lagrange point, approximately 1.5 million km beyond Earth’s orbit.
- It’s the largest, most powerful infrared space telescope ever built.
- Objectives: It will examine every phase of cosmic history; from the Big Bang to the formation of galaxies, stars, and planets to the evolution of our Solar System.
