Africa-Press – Sierra-Leone. Recently, the Sothern Ring Nebula attracted public attention as one of the first objects imaged by the James Webb Space Telescope, which was launched in December 2021.
New research indicates that the enigmatic Southern Ring Nebula is a product of at least four stars. The presence of these celestial bodies explains why nebular structures are still being carved out. The nebula itself is a result of the death of the star in its center.
Nebular structures like this one form as the result of the death of a star, when the latter starts to run out of fuel for nuclear fusion. When this happens, the star expands to several hundred times its original size and becomes a red giant. When it completely runs out of fuel, the core of the star collapses into a white dwarf, while the outer material is ejected into space.
The Southern Ring Nebula is the death shroud of a star that now is a white dwarf in the center of the nebula. However, the nebula structure seemed sort of abnormal to scientists and they wanted to study it properly. A closer look showed that there are more stars involved in the nebular structure. The study also allowed researchers to calculate the white dwarf’s temperature. It is burning at about 110,000 degrees Celsius.
For More News And Analysis About Sierra-Leone Follow Africa-Press
