The James Webb Space Telescope captures 'the wedding rings' of a stellar couple

James Webb Space Telescope image of the planetary nebula NGC 1514
James Webb Space Telescope image of the planetary nebula NGC 1514, showing two rings of dust surrounding the central binary star. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Michael Ressler (NASA-JPL), David Jones (IAC)
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References
“JWST/MIRI Study of the Enigmatic Mid-infrared Rings in the Planetary Nebula NG…

An international team, including a researcher from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), has obtained an incredible image of the planetary nebula NGC 1514 using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), revealing the nebula's spectacular dusty rings in unprecedented detail.

NGC 1514 was one of the first nebulae to be studied by astronomer William Herschel, who noted that when viewed through his telescope (the biggest in the World at the time) the nebula looked like a fuzzy cloud somewhat similar in appearance to one of his other discoveries: the planet Neptune.  The new images acquired by JWST and published in The Astronomical Journal reveal details that would be unthinkable to Herschel.

At the infrared wavelengths observed by JWST, the nebula shows a large pair of spectacular dust rings encompassing around its bright nucleus.  This central region, which is much brighter in visible light, was likely the only part that Herschel could see with his telescope in the 18th century. 

"Before JWST, we couldn't even detect the majority of this material, let alone image it so clearly", says Mike Ressler, responsible for the JWST instrument MIRI and first author of the article.  "We think that the rings are made up of small grains of dust, heated by the radiation from the central star until they glow in the infrared while remaining essentially invisible in the optical regime", he adds.

The nebula itself is also remarkable for its central star, which is actually not one star but two in an orbit of more than nine years.  "Even with the resolution of JWST, we can't separate the stars" comments David Jones, IAC researcher and coauthor of the study.  "The distance between the two is similar to the separation between the Sun and Jupiter, albeit in a very eccentric orbit that means that sometimes they are significantly closer".  It is these close approaches which potentially led to the formation of the dusty rings. "Without the companion star, the central star probably would not have produced such an elaborate nebula" explains Alba Aller, astronomer at the Observatorio Astronómico Nacional and coauthor of the article.

Article: Michael E. Ressler et al. “JWST/MIRI Study of the Enigmatic Mid-infrared Rings in the Planetary Nebula NGC 1514”, The Astronomical Journal, 2025, 169 236. DOI: 10.3847/1538-3881/adbbcf 

Contact at the IAC:
David Jones, david.jones [at] iac.es (david[dot]jones[at]iac[dot]es)

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