Thanks to mid-infrared images from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, the gas and dust ejected by a dying star at the center of NGC 1514 were fully visible. A network of sharper holes near the core stars indicates where faster material punched through, and its rings, which are only visible in infrared light, now appear as “fuzzy” aggregates grouped in tangled patterns.
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has taken the most detailed image of planetary nebula NGC 1514 to date thanks to its unique mid-infrared observations. Webb shows its rings as intricate clumps of dust. It’s also easier to see holes punched through the bright pink central region. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Michael Ressler (NASA-JPL), Dave Jones (IAC)
Summary
The gas and dust expelled by a dying star at the heart of NGC 1514 are now in sharp focus using mid-infrared data from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope. Its rings, previously only visible in infrared light, now appear as "fuzzy" clumps arranged in complex, tangled patterns. Closer to the central stars, a network of distinct holes reveals where faster-moving material has broken through the slower, denser ejected material.
Before Webb, we weren’t able to detect most of this material, let alone observe it so clearly.
Mike Ressler, Researcher and Project Scientist, MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument), Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA
The rings around NGC 1514 were spotted in 2010 while studying an image from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE).
Ressler added, “With MIRI’s data, we can now comprehensively examine the turbulent nature of this nebula.”
This scene has been developing for at least 4,000 years and will continue to evolve for many millennia. Webb's observation shows two stars at the center, which are separated by bright diffraction spikes. The stars have a tight, elongated nine-year orbit and are surrounded by an orange-colored dust arc.
One of these stars, once several times larger than the Sun, played the central role in creating this spectacle.
As it evolved, it puffed up, throwing off layers of gas and dust in in a very slow, dense stellar wind.
David Jones, Senior Scientist, Institute of Astrophysics, Canary Islands
In 2017, David Jones confirmed the presence of a binary star system at the very center.
The star's outer layers were evacuated, leaving only its hot, compact core. As a white dwarf star, its winds both accelerated and weakened, possibly sweeping up material into thin shells.
Its Hourglass Shape
According to Webb's observations, the nebula is tilted at a 60-degree angle, giving the appearance of a can being poured, however NGC 1514 is more likely to resemble an hourglass with the ends lopped off. Look for signs of its tight waist near the top left and bottom right, where the dust is orange and forms shallow V-shapes.
What could explain the contours?
“When this star was at its peak of losing material, the companion could have gotten very, very close. That interaction can lead to shapes that you wouldn’t expect. Instead of producing a sphere, this interaction might have formed these rings,” stated Jones.
Though NGC 1514’s outline is the clearest, the hourglass also contains “sides” that contribute to its three-dimensional structure. Look for the nebula’s body, which is formed of dim, semi-transparent orange clouds between its rings.
A Network of Dappled Structures
Webb's observations show that the nebula's two rings are unevenly lit, with more diffuse light at the bottom left and top right. They also appear fuzzy or textured.
“We think the rings are primarily made up of very small dust grains. When those grains are hit by ultraviolet light from the white dwarf star, they heat up ever so slightly, which we think makes them just warm enough to be detected by Webb in mid-infrared light,” added Ressler.
In addition to dust, the telescope discovered oxygen in its clumpy pink center, particularly along the borders of the bubbles or holes.
NGC 1514 is also notable for what it lacks. Carbon and its more complex derivatives, smoke-like material known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, are abundant in planetary nebulae. Neither was found in NGC 1514.
More complicated molecules may not have had enough time to form due to the orbit of the two core stars, which mixed up the ejected material. A simpler composition also implies that the light from both stars travels considerably further, resulting in the weak, cloud-like rings.
The bright blue star in the lower left, which has significantly smaller diffraction spikes than the core stars is not part of this nebula. In reality, this star is closer to Earth.
Astronomers have been studying this planetary nebula since the late 1700s. In 1790, astronomer William Herschel noted that NGC 1514 was the first deep-sky object to appear genuinely cloudy; unlike other objects in his catalog, Herschel could not resolve it into individual stars within a cluster. Thanks to Webb, our view of NGC 1514 is now significantly clearer.
NGC 1514 is located in the Taurus constellation, roughly 1,500 light-years from Earth.