James Webb snaps an image of the famous and beautiful Crab Nebula

By Georgina Torbet Updated November 4, 2023

Located 6,500 light-years away, the Crab Nebula is famous among astronomers for its elaborate and beautiful structure. A new image from the James Webb Space Telescope shows off the gorgeous nebula as seen in the infrared wavelength, highlighting the filaments of dust that create its cage-like shape.

The nebula is a supernova remnant, the result of a massive star that exploded at the end of its life centuries ago. The supernova was observed on Earth in 1054 CE, and since then astronomers have watched the nebula that resulted from that explosion grow and change.

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has gazed at the Crab Nebula in the search for answers about the supernova remnant’s origins. Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) and MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) have revealed new details in infrared light. — NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has gazed at the Crab Nebula in the search for answers about the supernova remnant’s origins. Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) and MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) have revealed new details in infrared light. NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Tea Temim (Princeton University)

The nebula has previously been imaged by other telescopes such as the Hubble Space Telescope which looks primarily in the optical wavelength and, more recently, NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer observatory which looks in the X-ray wavelength. These results have been combined into a previous image showing the nebula in optical, infrared, and X-ray.

The new Webb image, however, shows different aspects of the object. Using its NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) and MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) instruments, Webb can see the structures of gas filaments, which are shown in red and orange, as well as the regions of dust that appear as the fluffy yellow, white, and green areas. Another aspect picked up in the infrared image is a type of radiation called synchrotron radiation, created by a rotating neutron star with a strong magnetic field, which is shown as the white milky substance in the interior of the nebula.

The nebula is being studied to learn about how it formed from the supernova event, which threw out clouds of material when the star exploded.

“Webb’s sensitivity and spatial resolution allow us to accurately determine the composition of the ejected material, particularly the content of iron and nickel, which may reveal what type of explosion produced the Crab Nebula,” said lead researcher Tea Temim of Princeton University in a statement.

There will be yet more data about the Crab Nebula coming soon, as Hubble has also recently re-imaged the object for the first time since it took its original observations in 1999 and 2000.

Topics

Tech News

Georgina Torbet

Space Writer

Georgina is the Digital Trends space writer, covering human space exploration, planetary science, and cosmology. She…

Space

Gorgeous Webb image of Serpens Nebula shows a strange alignment

This image shows the centre of the Serpens Nebula as seen by the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope’s Near-InfraRed Camera (NIRCam).

The Serpens Nebula, located 1,300 light-years from Earth, is home to a particularly dense cluster of newly forming stars (about 100,000 years old), some of which will eventually grow to the mass of our Sun. Webb’s image of this nebula revealed a grouping of aligned protostellar outflows (seen in the top left). These jets are identified by bright clumpy streaks that appear red, which are shock waves caused when the jet hits the surrounding gas and dust. NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, K. Pontoppidan (NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory), J. Green (Space Telescope Science Institute)

This stunning new image from the James Webb Space Telescope shows the famous Serpens Nebula, a dense star-forming region where new stars are being born amid clouds of dust and gas. Unlike some other nebulae, which are illuminated by radiation from stars that causes them to glow, this is a type called a reflection nebula, so it only shines due to the light that reflects from other sources.

Space

Well-known star turns out to be not one star, but twins

This artist’s concept shows two young stars nearing the end of their formation. Encircling the stars are disks of leftover gas and dust from which planets may form. Jets of gas shoot away from the stars’ north and south poles.

This artist’s concept shows two young stars nearing the end of their formation. Encircling the stars are disks of leftover gas and dust from which planets may form. Jets of gas shoot away from the stars’ north and south poles. U.S. NSF/NSF NRAO/B. Saxton

There are some regions and objects that become favorite targets for astronomers -- often because they are nearby (and so easier to observe) and because they are a well-known example of an object like a stellar nursery or a black hole. But occasionally, even these well-known objects turn out to be hiding surprises. This was the case recently, when observations from the James Webb Space Telescope revealed that a particular star, WL 20S, in the frequently observed WL20 region, turned out not to be a single star at all, but actually a pair.

Space

James Webb discovers the most distant galaxy ever observed

JADES (NIRCam Image with Pullout). The NIRCam data was used to determine which galaxies to study further with spectroscopic observations. One such galaxy, JADES-GS-z14-0 (shown in the pullout), was determined to be at a redshift of 14.32 (+0.08/-0.20), making it the current record-holder for the most distant known galaxy. This corresponds to a time less than 300 million years after the big bang.

JADES (NIRCam Image with Pullout). The NIRCam data was used to determine which galaxies to study further with spectroscopic observations. One such galaxy, JADES-GS-z14-0 (shown in the pullout), was determined to be at a redshift of 14.32 (+0.08/-0.20), making it the current record-holder for the most distant known galaxy. This corresponds to a time less than 300 million years after the big bang. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, B. Robertson (UC Santa Cruz), B. Johnson (CfA), S. Tacchella (Cambridge), P. Cargile (CfA). NASA

Researchers using the James Webb Space Telescope have discovered the most distant known galaxy to date, one that is so far away that it existed just a few hundred million years after the Big Bang. Since Webb began its science operations in 2022, astronomers have used it to look for very distant, very ancient galaxies and have been surprised by what they found. Not only have they found many of these distant galaxies, but the galaxies are also brighter and more massive than they expected -- suggesting that galaxies evolved into large sizes faster than anyone imagined.