NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has captured detailed images of Nebula PMR 1, nicknamed the 'Exposed Cranium' for its resemblance to a brain inside a transparent skull. The observations, taken in near- and mid-infrared light, reveal layered gas structures and a dark central lane dividing the nebula. This structure surrounds a star shedding its outer layers in its final life stages.
New images from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope offer unprecedented clarity on Nebula PMR 1, a rarely studied cloud of gas and dust around a dying star. First detected over a decade ago by the retired Spitzer Space Telescope in infrared light, the nebula now appears strikingly like a brain, with its eerie shape highlighted by Webb's advanced instruments: the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). The outer shell consists mostly of hydrogen gas expelled earlier, while the inner region shows a complex mix of gases and finer details, reflecting the star's progressive material shedding. A prominent dark lane runs vertically through the center, splitting the nebula into two halves akin to brain hemispheres. Scientists suggest this feature links to outflows or twin jets from the central star, with evidence of outward-pushed gas visible at the top in the MIRI image. This captures a fleeting phase in the star's evolution, where it ejects layers on cosmic timescales. The star's mass remains undetermined; a massive one might culminate in a supernova, while a Sun-like star would leave a cooling white dwarf core. Webb, a collaboration between NASA, ESA, and CSA, excels at probing such phenomena across the universe.