The James Webb Space Telescope has imaged the planetary nebula NGC 2392 — better known as the Lion Nebula — in unprecedented detail. The new infrared views, captured with the NIRCam and MIRI instruments, reveal the aftermath of a dying star more sharply than ever before.
Hubble first photographed the nebula in visible light in 2000, revealing the 'lion face' that gives the object its nickname: a bubble of ionized gas surrounded by a 'mane' of comet-like dust clumps. Webb's infrared vision goes deeper, highlighting compact clumps of dust that stayed hidden in Hubble's view and showing how the central star is 'cooking' the material around it.
At the nebula's heart sits the remains of a Sun-like star — a white dwarf. It is the engine behind every structure visible here: its intense radiation drives the expanding gas bubble, destroys dust in its path and yet allows some filaments to survive, sheltering material behind them. Astronomers estimate the Lion will disperse in roughly 10,000 years — a blink in cosmic terms.
Planetary nebulae like NGC 2392 are more than pretty pictures: they are the source of much of the observable dust in the universe. When a mid-sized star dies, it sheds its outer layers into shells of gas and dust — the raw material for future generations of stars. Webb's observations help explain why those shells form such intricate rings and structures.
The release also showcases the telescope's international partnership: Webb is a joint program of NASA, ESA and CSA, with image processing at the Space Telescope Science Institute. To the eye, the Lion Nebula looks familiar — to science, it is a window into the life cycle of stars.
