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August 12, 2026
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New images uncover nan Lion Nebula successful each its majestic glory
This dying prima appears to person a look of state and a mane of abstraction dust
By Mary Randolph edited by Claire Cameron
The Lion Nebula was first captured by nan Hubble Space Telescope successful 2000. The caller images from JWST seizure nan planetary nebula's lionlike chemoreceptor and mane successful acold greater detail.
NASA
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Imagine a lion pinch nan chemoreceptor of a dying star, a mane of abstraction particulate and a residence 10,000 light-years distant from Earth. On its infrared galactic safari, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) conscionable captured it connected camera.
The planetary nebula NGC 2392, nicknamed nan Lion Nebula for its resemblance to nan animal, was antecedently viewed successful 2000 by nan Hubble Space Telescope. Now astronomers person captured an even clearer view of it.
Planetary nebulae for illustration nan Lion Nebula are glowing shells surrounding a dying star, aliases achromatic dwarf, astatine their center. The achromatic dwarf emits radiation and produces a elephantine state bubble—the lion’s face—that destroys particulate successful its path. And nan border, aliases “mane,” of nan planetary nebula is simply a ammunition of particulate surrounding nan achromatic dwarf.
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The caller images uncover nan ionized state and clumps of particulate surrounding nan achromatic dwarf much intelligibly than nan older Hubble pictures. The building formed by nan state and dust, visible successful nan caller observations arsenic analyzable rings and shells, is an astronomical arena researchers still don’t wholly understand.
The prima will yet die, destroying nan lion and dispersing each nan state and particulate into interstellar space. Astronomers estimate that its last roar will hap astir 10,000 years from now.
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