"Last breath of a star": James Webb Space Telescope images the Helix Nebula

The Helix Nebula is one of the most well-known astronomical motifs, yet the James Webb Space Telescope has revealed previously invisible details.

(Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, A. Pagan (STScI))

Jan 21, 2026 at 12:53 pm CET

2 min. read

By

Martin Holland

The space telescope has captured an impressive image of the Helix Nebula, bringing previously indistinguishable details into focus. The European Space Agency ESA has released the image and explains that it also offers a glimpse into a possible future for our sun. It shows the gas ejected by a dying star, which simultaneously forms the basis for new stars. The star itself is not visible in the image. The infrared image clearly shows the temperature of the material; the bluer it is depicted here, the hotter the gas. In the yellow regions, hydrogen atoms form molecules. Reddish hues indicate forming dust. ESA suggests that one can see the “last breath of the star” here.

The “Eye of God”

The Helix Nebula in its entirety, captured by Hubble

(Image: NASA, ESA, and C.R. O'Dell (Vanderbilt University))

The image shows “pillars that look like comets,” together they trace the inner region of an expanding gas shell, explains ESA. They are formed by hot gas encountering colder dust that was previously ejected by the star. These collisions shape the structure of the nebula, which is one of the closest planetary nebulae to Earth. The star responsible for this spectacle is outside the frame, above the image. It can be seen, for example, in images from the Hubble Space Telescope, which also gave it the name “Eye of God.” The structure is 650 light-years away from us.

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The James Webb Space Telescope is operated by the space agencies NASA, ESA, and CSA and was launched on December 25, 2021. After unfolding itself through a complex procedure, it arrived at the Lagrange point L2 a month later. Here, it looks into space, facing away from the Sun, Earth, and Moon, so that their heat radiation does not interfere with the infrared telescope. A giant sunshield blocks this radiation. Since mid-2022, it has not only delivered astronomical images that bring known objects into new light, but primarily aids in the exploration of the early universe. The fuel on board is expected to last for 20 years of research.