James Webb telescope captures dual-ringed nebula in stunning detail

In context: Astronomers have been observing the wheel-shaped nebula NGC 1514 for over three centuries. In 1790, William Herschel described it as the first deep-sky object that looked cloudy. Unlike star clusters, he couldn't distinguish individual stars within it. Thanks to the Webb telescope, scientists are now studying the nebula in greater detail, leading to a better understanding of the interstellar cloud. On Monday, NASA released stunning images of the NGC 1514 nebula, showcasing the most vivid depiction of its dual rings ever captured. The Webb telescope's Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) provided the high-resolution composite, offering a clearer view than those from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), which only showed the rings in fuzzy detail. (See side-by-side image below.) Astronomers have studied NGC 1514 since the 1700s, but in 2010, scientist Mike Ressler captured the nebula in the highest detail available at the time with WISE. He notes that the Webb images s ... Read full article.