Webb captures clearest image yet of the Lion Nebula

Webb's near- and mid-infrared composite image reveals the complex structure of the Lion Nebula. The image, captured using the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), provides the clearest and most detailed view yet of the nebula. The central white dwarf, which created the nebula, illuminates the gas and ionizes it, causing it to expand and destroy dust. The nebula's structure, including rings and shells, is formed by the pulsating, lower-mass star that exhausted its fuel and began to blow off its outer layers. The image highlights compact clumps of dust that appear red, orange, and yellow, and haze caused by ionized gas, which survived the expanding gas cloud.

• The image reveals the nebula's complex structure and the white dwarf at its center, which continues to shape it.
• The central star is so hot that it illuminates everything inside the bubble, ionizing hydrogen and causing it to expand and destroy much of the dust it encounters.
• The nebula's structure, common in planetary nebulae, remains an active area of astronomical research.
• The powerful radiation from the stellar remnant drives the ejected material away, leaving behind a white dwarf surrounded by a shell of gas and dust.

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