JWST Reveals a Dying Star Surrounded by Mysterious Buckyballs in Stunning Detail

by Aaron Leong — Friday, April 24, 2026, 10:51 AM EDT

NASA's little busy-bee, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), just delivered another treasure giving scientists an unprecedented infrared look at the interior of the Tc 1 planetary nebula, located some 10,000 light-years away where complex carbon molecules known as buckminsterfullerene (affectionately called "buckyballs") are forged in the death throes of the central star. With these images, an international team led by Western University astronomers has finally been able to map the a 3D distribution of these soccer-ball-shaped structures.

Buckyballs are 60-carbon molecules that were first detected within Tc 1 in 2010 by Professor Jan Cami using the Spitzer Space Telescope. While that discovery proved they existed and survived in space, Spitzer’s vision was too blurry to show exactly where they were hidden. Fast forward to 2026 and we now have JWST's Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) instrument revealing an eye-catching scene of shimmering shells, wispy filaments, and radiating rays of gas.

buckyballs example — *Illustration depicting how buckyballs are arranged in patterns of hexagons and pentagons, similar to the pattern on a soccer ball. (Credit: Western Communications)*

Interestingly, the researchers found that these microscopic hollow spheres of carbon are not scattered randomly but are concentrated in a massive, thin spherical shell surrounding the central white dwarf, like one giant buckyball. This distribution also provides critical clues about the specific temperature and radiation conditions required for carbon to snap into these ultra-stable geodesic shapes.

Just as intriguing, there's a glowing feature that almost resembles an upside-down question mark nestled right in the heart of the nebula. There's still no definitive answer to how this formed: if this is a product of complex gas interactions, magnetic fields, or a secondary companion star influencing the nebula’s expansion. Physics and astronomy PhD candidate Simon Van Schuylenbergh candidly noted, "We put a lot of effort into the data analysis, because we had so many questions about the buckyballs and their surroundings. After a long time, we finally thought we’d start to see some answers, only for the nebula to show us a giant question mark, right in our face."

As the star at the center of Tc 1 exhausted its nuclear fuel and shed its outer layers, the buckyballs formed here are incredibly resilient, capable of withstanding intense ultraviolet radiation that would tear other organic compounds apart. Because these molecules have also been found in meteorites on Earth, understanding how and where they form in nebulae like Tc 1 give experts clues to have life may have begun.

Main photo: Image shows planetary nebula Tc 1 as observed by JWST’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), combining nine filters spanning wavelengths from 5.6 to 25.5 microns (Credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Western University, J. Cami)