A dying star molting its final layers in space seems to be in the midst of a sad, solitary experience — at least from a storytelling perspective.
But a new image from the James Webb Space Telescope, a collaboration of NASA and its European and Canadian counterparts, shows this drama isn’t a one-star act. More than one stellar object, at least for this scene, is on the playbill.
In a new look at the planetary nebula NGC 6072, located about 3,800 light-years away in the constellation Scorpius, astronomers found evidence that this cosmic cloud’s chaotic, lopsided shape is likely the handiwork of more than one star. The tangle of glowing gas may actually reveal a star in its final stages — with a companion sticking by its side until the proverbial curtain falls.
The results of the observation help astronomers understand how some stars die, especially in multiple-star systems, which are thought to be more prevalent in the Milky Way than solo star solar systems.
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