Technologies

A ‘Messy’ Star Death: How an Early Muse of NASA’s Webb Telescope Came to Be

The Southern Ring Nebula, brought to you by a star’s explosive demise.

When NASA released the James Webb Space Telescope’s very first images this year, astronomers and space-lovers all over the world were met with a menagerie of blurred galaxies from near the beginning of time, coffee-hued dust clouds brimming with wonderful secrets and incandescent realms fit for Disney princess castles. It was a glorious moment for humankind, witnessing how stars can unite us beneath our layers of division.

But among this trailblazing telescope’s first five images, one especially stood out not only for its beauty but also for its mystery — a striking portrait of the Southern Ring Nebula hid an important history yet to be known. Simply, scientists wanted to learn what, exactly, caused this intricate, amoeba-shaped, ancient star explosion aftermath to exist?

Et, voila.

On Thursday, an international team of nearly 70 astronomers used the JWST’s stunning image to deduce the Southern Ring Nebula’s backstory.

Details are published in the journal Nature Astronomy, but basically, what they found is that some 2,500 years ago, a star nearly three times the size of our sun died at about 500 million years of age.

When it died, they say, the stellar body ejected most of its mass into surrounding space, forming shrouds of gas that slowly expanded with time until they turned into the complex folds we see today in the JWST’s Southern Ring Nebula structure.

Then, when all was said and done, the deceased star left behind a sort of corpse, or white dwarf star, with about half the mass of our sun but around the size of Earth. (That’s super dense, to be clear).

Plus, as an added surprise, the astronomers also found evidence of two or three companion stars they believe hastened the blown up star’s death — as well an «innocent bystander» star that might’ve just gotten caught up in the mix.

«When we first saw the images, we knew we had to do something, we must investigate!» Orsola De Marco, lead author of the paper and astrophysicist at Macquarie University, said in a statement. «The community came together, and from this one image of a randomly chosen nebula, we were able to discern much more precise structures than ever before. The promise of the James Webb Space Telescope is incredible.»

That Southern Ring Nebula image really is something

Even back in July, the JWST’s Southern Ring Nebula rendition had raised eyebrows during its reveal. I mean, at the top left of one version of the JWST’s view, taken with the Mid-Infrared instrument, a weird bluish line ended up literally being a galaxy photobomber.

«I made a bet that said, ‘It’s part of the nebula,'» NASA astronomer Karl Gordon recounted during the unveiling. «I lost the bet, because then we looked more carefully at both Nircam and MIRI images, and it’s very clearly an edge-on galaxy.»

We were also able to see not one but two stars dance around one another at the marvel’s center for the first time, stirring the pot of gas and dust to create the ornate patterns that make the image perfect as an iPhone background. (Yes, one of these is the white dwarf that De Marco and fellow scientists discuss in their latest paper.)

«This star is now small and hot but is surrounded by cool dust,» Joel Kastner, another team member from the Rochester Institute of Technology, said in a statement. «We think all that gas and dust we see thrown all over the place must have come from that one star, but it was tossed in very specific directions by the companion stars.»

The other star visible in the JWST’s photo, according to the team, is just one of the companion stars that orbits the central star while the latter loses mass over time.

However, as to why the team believes there aren’t just two stars at play here but rather three, four – maybe more – that’s because of how a series of spiral structures seem to be moving out from the center, generating arches, and how a 3D view of the nebula’s data points to irregular jets of matter shooting from the phenomenon’s center.

«We first inferred the presence of a close companion because of the dusty disk around the central star, the further partner that created the arches and the super far companion that you can see in the image,» De Marco said. «Once we saw the jets, we knew there had to be another star or even two involved at the center, so we believe there are one or two very close companions, an additional one at middle distance and one very far away.

«If this is the case, there are four or even five objects involved in this messy death.»

Technologies

Resident Evil Requiem: Release Date, Leon Kennedy’s Return Confirmed and More

The return to Raccoon City is going to be just as scary as you could have imagined.

The Game Awards on Thursday revealed new games such as Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic and Control Resonant, but one of the biggest games shown was already revealed earlier in the year. Resident Evil Requiem is the ninth entry in the main Resident Evil series and takes players back to where the games started while seeing the return of a fan-favorite character.

A new trailer for Resident Evil Requiem finally reveals the antagonist of the game and confirms that Leon Kennedy is back, though it’s unclear what he’s been doing since Resident Evil 6. Also shown in the footage was Victor Gideon, a former doctor who looks like he’s been experimenting on people — and himself — as he intimidates the other main character players will control, Grace Ashcroft.

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Resident Evil Requiem made its debut during the Summer Games Fest in June, and developer Capcom slowly released details about the upcoming horror game. What’s clear from the previously released footage and impressions is that Capcom really wants to terrify players — and it’ll go so far as to put players in Grace’s shoes without weapons.

When does Resident Evil Requiem come out?

Resident Evil Requiem will be released on Feb. 27, 2026, for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series consoles.

When does Resident Evil Requiem take place?

Resident Evil Requiem takes place 30 years after the events of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, which was when Raccoon City was destroyed.

How will Resident Evil Requiem play?

After the trailer was shown, Game Awards host Geoff Keighley said Leon would bring «action-heavy gameplay» and that the game would offer two different experiences. This could mean that a good chunk of the game will be played as Grace, who will provide more of a survival-horror experience with fewer weapons and tools, while a portion of the game will be focused on Leon and his more chainsaw-wielding, kicking-in-the-face style of gameplay.

Read more: I Played Resident Evil 9 Requiem at Summer Game Fest, and It’s Extremely Messed Up

Who is Grace Ashcroft?

Grace Ashcroft is an FBI analyst who has a connection with Raccoon City. Her mother, Alyssa, was a survivor of the destruction of Raccoon City and was a playable character in the online game Resident Evil Outbreak, released on the PS2 in 2003. The elder Ashcroft was a reporter who told the story of what happened to the zombie-infested city, but was killed by a masked assailant in 2018.

Her murder spurred Grace to join the FBI. In Requiem, a mysterious infection is spreading, and deaths are mounting. Grace is assigned to investigate the Wrenwood Hotel, the place where the latest fatality has occurred, and which was the site of her mother’s murder. It’s from here that she’ll make her way to Raccoon City.

Where has Leon Kennedy been?

Leon was last seen in the series with Resident Evil 6, but he’s been active in the Resident Evil animated movies and series, including Resident Evil: Degeneration, Resident Evil: Damnation, Resident Evil: Vendetta, Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness and Resident Evil: Death Island. Leon is currently an agent for the Division of Security Operations and is deployed worldwide to investigate instances of bioweapons causing havoc, which often leads to reunions with other Resident Evil survivors, such as Jill Valentine, Chris Redfield and Rebecca Chambers.

Are there any other characters set to be revealed?

A GameStop listing for Resident Evil Requiem listed the Expansion Pass for the game and the additional scenarios, according to a report from Videogame Chronicles on Tuesday. One scenario referred to a Shadow Walker Costume Pack, which includes outfits for Rosemary Winters, the daughter of Resident Evil 7 and Resident Evil Village hero Ethan Winters. Rosemary was the main character of Shadows of Rose, a postrelease content scenario for Resident Evil Village.

There could be additional characters revealed in the coming days as Resident Evil Requiem’s release date nears.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Dec. 13, #446

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Dec. 13, No. 446.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is a tough one. The purple category wants you to look inside of different words and see if you recognize other related words. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Get your racket.

Green group hint: Football, February to September.

Blue group hint: College gridiron stars.

Purple group hint: Look for hidden teams.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Scoring in tennis.

Green group: NFL offseason events.

Blue group: Heisman Trophy finalists.

Purple group: Starts with an NFL team in singular form.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is scoring in tennis. The four answers are 15, 30, 40 and deuce.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is NFL offseason events. The four answers are combine, draft, OTAs and training camp.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is Heisman Trophy finalists. The four answers are Love, Mendoza, Pavia and Sayin.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is starts with an NFL team in singular form. The four answers are beard, billboard, brownie and jettison.

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Technologies

Google Turns Ordinary Headphones Into Instant Language Interpreters

Google is rolling out a beta version of the Translate app with support for more than 70 languages.

Google is taking on Apple’s Live Translation feature with its own live speech-to-speech translations, and Google’s version doesn’t require a specific set of headphones.

The new Translate app, currently rolling out in beta, provides you with real-time translation in your preferred language when you tap «Live Translate.» The function, now usable on any headset, was only previously available on Pixel Buds.

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The Translate Android app update is rolling out in the US, Mexico and India, and it supports more than 70 languages. The company says it will bring the feature to iOS, and more countries, in 2026.

In addition, the company announced it was improving translation quality using Gemini, Google’s AI model, and said that idioms, in particular, were no longer literal translations, but more contextual. Google said that it was also expanding the language learning tools with more feedback and daily challenges.

Meanwhile, as part of iOS 26, Apple recently introduced Live Translation, but the live audio version is currently limited to use with the AirPods Pro or AirPods 4.