The latest images from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope reveal new details of a mysterious, little-studied nebula surrounding a dying star that has two heads better than one.

Nebula PMR 1 is a cloud of gas and dust that bears an eerie resemblance to a brain inside a transparent skull, giving it its nickname the “Exposed Skull” nebula. Webb captured its unusual features in both near- and mid-infrared light. The nebula is revealed for the first time It was photographed in infrared more than a decade ago by Webb’s predecessor, NASA’s now-retired Spitzer Space Telescope. Webb’s advanced instruments show details that emphasize the nebula’s brain-like appearance.

Image: Exposed Cranial Nebula (NIRCam and MIRI images)

The nebula appears to have distinct regions that capture different stages of its evolution. The first to be blown away is an outer shell of gas consisting mostly of hydrogen, and a more structured inner cloud containing a mixture of different gases. Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) and MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) both show a distinctive dark lane running vertically through the center of the nebula, which characterizes the brain-like appearance of the left and right hemispheres. Webb’s solution shows that this lane may be associated with an explosion or outflow from the central star, which typically occurs when twin jets explode in opposite directions. Evidence of this is particularly evident at the top of the nebula in Webb’s MIRI images, where the gas inside appears to be spewing outward.

There is still much to understand about this nebula, but it is clear that it was created by a star nearing the end of its fuel-burning “lifetime.” In the final stage, the star sheds its outer layer. This is a dynamic and fairly fast process from a cosmic perspective. Webb captured the moment of the star’s decline. What ultimately happens depends on the star’s mass, which has not yet been determined. If it is large enough, it will explode as a supernova. A less massive Sun-like star continues to shed layers until only its core remains as a dense star. white dwarfit will cool down after a long time.

The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb unravels the mysteries of our solar system, looks to distant worlds around other stars, and explores the mysterious structure and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA and its partners ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).