Lifeboat Foundation

New images from the James Webb Space Telescope have revealed intricate details of a dying star’s final stages, NASA said Monday. The Ring Nebula images, featuring a glowing halo and vibrant colors, also led to a surprising discovery, one astronomer said.

Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument provided the clearest view yet of the faint molecular halo, the space agency said. It captured up to 10 concentric “arcs” in the halo, which scientists believe formed about every 280 years as the central star shed its outer layers.

Roger Wesson, a research associate at Cardiff University who reviewed the Webb telescope’s observations, called the discovery of the arcs a “surprising revelation.”