Southern part of the outer halo of the Ring nebula

Close-up of the southern part of the outer halo, the part outside the main ring.  The team finds several hundred linear features, referred to as ‘stripes’, pointing approximately at the central star. Their origin is not yet clear. How a single star can create such a complex nebula is not well understood. JWST will be used to study the structure, and the origin of the clumps and stripes. In the background, numerous distant faint galaxies can be seen in green, some with clear spiral structure. Credit: JWST/NIRcam.

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