Webb captures a cosmic ring, a supermassive black hole destroying a massive star

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has taken an unprecedented, detailed look at the well-known Ring Nebula. Formed as a star sheds its outer layers as it runs out of fuel, the Ring Nebula is an archaic planetary nebula. This new image from Webb’s NIRCam (near infrared camera) shows intricate details of the inner ring’s filamentary structure. Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA, CSA, M. Barlow (University College London), N. Cox (ACRI-ST), R. Wesson (Cardiff University)

NASAThe In Webb Space Telescope Captures a Cosmic Ring…

The team behind NASA’s upcoming Psych mission…

And the unique thing about a star is that it is separated by a star black hole …

A few stories to tell you – this week at NASA!

Webb observes the Ring Nebula in unprecedented detail

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has observed the Ring Nebula in unprecedented detail. Formed by the shedding of its outer layers when a dying star runs out of fuel, the Ring Nebula is one of the best examples of a planetary nebula. It is approximately 2,200 light-years away from Earth.

Meet some of the engineers who helped build NASA’s Psych mission, which will launch in October on a 2.2-billion-mile (3.6 billion-kilometer) mission to the metal-rich asteroid of the same name. Credit: NASA

Video series highlights the Psych Mission team

NASA’s Psyche spacecraft is aiming for an early October 5 launch to the metal-rich asteroid, also named Psyche. A new video series called „Behind the Spacecraft” highlights several members of the Psych team and their contributions to the mission. Videos are posted on several social media platforms of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The work will help answer fundamental questions about how rocky planets like Earth formed and the formation of our solar system.

This artist’s illustration depicts the aftermath of a „tidal disruption event” (TDE) called ASASSN-14li, where a star was torn apart after approaching a supermassive black hole. After the star split, some of its gas (red) swirled around and fell into the black hole, while part of the gas was ejected into the air (blue). Credit: NASA/CXC/Univ of Michigan/J. Miller et al.; Credit: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss

A supermassive black hole destroys a massive star

Astronomers, using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and ESA’s XMM-Newton, have identified material believed to have come from a star ripped apart by a supermassive black hole – known as ASASSN-14li. The relative mass of the carbon indicates to astronomers that the nitrogen has three times the mass of our Sun – which would make the star in ASASSN-14li the most massive to be ripped apart by a black hole to date.

The flight harness of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is transferred from the mock-up configuration to the shuttle flight configuration. Credit: NASA/Chris Gunn

Consolidation Roman space telescopeThe nervous system of

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope team has begun assembling and testing the spacecraft’s harness — the electrical cabling that serves as the telescope’s nervous system. The harness provides power and commands to Roman’s instruments, enables different parts of the telescope to communicate with each other, and enables a central computer to monitor the telescope’s operations. ROMAN will probe billions of cosmic objects and help unravel mysteries like dark energy following its launch by May 2027.

That’s it for @NASA this week!