A Detailed Look at the Helix Nebula

Produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute’s Office of Public Outreach in collaboration with NASA’s Universe of Learning partners: Caltech/IPAC, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Video imagery:

Music from Music for Non-Profits

 

(DESCRIPTION) 

[00:00:00.00] Photos of planets, galaxies, nebulas, and other celestial bodies scroll past. 

 

(SPEECH) 

[00:00:00.17] [COSMIC MUSIC] 

 

(DESCRIPTION) 

[00:00:05.38] Text: News from the Universe. 

 

[00:00:07.86] In a photo, three points of blueish white light shine through a lumpy, gold mass. 

 

[00:00:12.54] Text: FEBRUARY 5, 2026, A DETAILED LOOK AT THE HELIX NEBULA. NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has revealed striking detail in its latest image of the Helix Nebula. 

 

[00:00:23.50] Lesser points of light also shine through in the image. The next image displays the ring-shaped nebular from further away. A rectangle outlines one edge. 

 

[00:00:32.01] Text: Webb focuses in on an inner portion of the nebula's expanding shell, shown in context with an image from the VISTA observatory. 

 

[00:00:39.23] Inside the rectangle, the edges of the ring fade toward the center. Text: At the heart of the nebula, shaping its structure, is a blazing white dwarf, the leftover core of an expired star. 

 

[00:00:50.10] The strongest point of light glows inside the nebula. 

 

[00:00:53.04] Text: Winds of fast-moving hot gas from the star are crashing into slower moving, colder shells of dust and gas that the star shed earlier in its life. 

 

[00:01:02.62] The first image shifts, scrolling diagonally upward from left to right. 

 

[00:01:07.81] Text: A touch of a blue hue marks the hottest gas in this field, energized by intense ultraviolet light from the white dwarf. 

 

[00:01:15.37] Below the brightest star in the nebula, amber color gives way to lighter gold. 

 

[00:01:20.49] Text: Farther out, yellow-colored pockets of cosmic dust are home to hydrogen molecules. 

 

(SPEECH) 

[00:01:23.48] 

 

(DESCRIPTION) 

[00:01:26.22] The image continues to shift. Swaths of black space lie in the wispy mass. 

 

[00:01:30.86] Text: At the outer edges, the reddish tones trace the coolest material, where gas begins to thin and dust takes on a clumpy structure. 

 

[00:01:38.88] In the lower left, the nebula is dense with golden color, growing sparser toward the right. 

 

[00:01:44.17] Text: Webb reveals not only detailed structure, but a star's final breath transforming into the raw ingredients that may one day reform into new stars and planets. 

 

[00:01:54.27] The blueish white star glows, creating a flare with six points. 

 

[00:01:58.73] Text: This news was brought to you in part by the SPACE TELESCOPE SCIENCE INSTITUTE IN BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.