The Southern Ring nebula is called a planetary nebula. Despite “planet” in the name, which comes from how these objects first appeared to astronomers observing them hundreds of years ago, these are shells of dust and gas shed by dying Sun-like stars. The new details from Webb will transform our understanding of how stars evolve and influence their environments. Read more about the new Webb observations of this object: <a rel="noreferrer nofollow noopener" href="http://nasa.gov/webbfirstimages/" target="_blank">nasa.gov/webbfirstimages/</a> Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI Image description A planetary nebula seen, by Webb’s MIRI, against the blackness of space, with points of starlight behind it. Plumes of glowing bright blue gas radiate out from the oval-shaped nebula. Two separate ovals of reddish pink gas appear stacked on top of each other, inside the lacy blue gas clouds. In the center of the nebula, two stars glow close to each other. One star looks more red, while the other appears more yellow. #space #jameswebb #telescope #nasa #esa #csa #spacephoto #hubble #science