Dying Star's Final Breath Turns Into A Spectacular Light Show Captured By Webb

by Aaron Leong — Thursday, January 22, 2026, 11:05 AM EDT

James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has captured the most intricate view yet of the Helix Nebula, offering a sharp, infrared glimpse into the final moments of a dying sun.

Affectionately nicknamed either the "Eye of Sauron" or "Eye of God," the Helix Nebula, located 650 light-years away, has been an astronomer favorite for ages. However, the new images released this week by NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) provide the most detailed look ever of one of our closest nebula neighbors. Thanks to the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), Webb has pierced through the dust to show the intricate comet-like knots that line the inner edge of the nebula's gas shell. These knots, which look like golden tadpoles or liquid droplets, are dense clouds of molecular gas being sculpted by blistering winds and intense radiation from the central white dwarf.

helix neb zoom — *(Left) Helix Nebula from the ground-based Visible and Infrared Telescope for Astronomy; (Right) Webb's field of view of the same nebula (Credit: ESO, VISTA, NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, J. Emerson (ESO))*

While the image is no doubt a marvel to look at, it can also serve as a map of stellar recycling, with colors representing a gradient of temperature and chemistry: deep blues indicate the hottest, ionized gas closest to the central star, while the hues transition into yellow and orange where hydrogen atoms bond into molecules. At the outer reddish fringes, the gas cools for for dust to take shape.

In studying these shielded pockets where complex molecules can survive the harsh radiation of a dying star, researchers hope to learn how the building blocks of life are preserved during the chaotic end of a solar system's life. Moreover, the Helix Nebula provides a preview of the fate of our own Sun. In approximately five billion years, our star will similarly exhaust its fuel, swell into a red giant, and eventually shrug off its outer layers to leave behind a cooling white dwarf core.

While earlier telescopes (like the retired Spitzer) gave us a broader view of Helix, Webb's imagery finally showcases a turbulent, structured landscape that defies the calm appearance of its "eye." As the gas continues to expand at thousands of miles per hour, Webb will continue to track how these structures evolve, providing essential data on understanding how the heavy elements necessary for life are redistributed back into the cosmos.