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

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Sunday, June 8

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for June 8.

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

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword isn’t too tough, but 1-Across might make you think of the sky, and that’s not the direction you need to go. Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? Read on. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

The Mini Crossword is just one of many games in the Times’ games collection. If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Org. with shooting stars
Answer: NBA

4A clue: Buildings with weather vanes, stereotypically
Answer: BARNS

6A clue: Swiss watch brand
Answer: OMEGA

7A clue: What Santa, Gandalf and Dumbledore each have
Answer: BEARD

8A clue: Pie in the ___
Answer: SKY

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: «I’m bad with ___» (party excuse)
Answer: NAMES

2D clue: Start of a billiards game
Answer: BREAK

3D clue: Seeing red
Answer: ANGRY

4D clue: Timothée’s role in «A Complete Unknown»
Answer: BOB

5D clue: Feeling blue
Answer: SAD

How to play more Mini Crosswords

The New York Times Games section offers a large number of online games, but only some of them are free for all to play. You can play the current day’s Mini Crossword for free, but you’ll need a subscription to the Times Games section to play older puzzles from the archives.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for June 8, #258

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, No. 258, for June 8.

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 isn’t too tough, but let’s hope you know the résumé of a certain NBA player to get the blue group. Read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is out of beta now, making its debut on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 9. That’s a sign that the game has earned enough loyal players that The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by the Times, will continue to publish it. It doesn’t show up in the NYT Games app but now appears in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can continue to play it 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: Let’s go at it.

Green group hint: Signal-callers.

Blue group hint: Hoops star’s teams.

Purple group hint: Great barbecue town.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Competition.

Green group: Names of NFL QBs.

Blue group: Teams Tyrese Haliburton has played for.

Purple group: Kansas City ____.

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 competition. The four answers are bout, contest, event and match.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is names of NFL QBs. The four answers are Baker, Bo, Dak and Tua.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is teams Tyrese Haliburton has played for. The four answers are Iowa State, Kings, Pacers and USA.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is Kansas City ____. The four answers are Chiefs, Current, Monarchs and Royals.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for June 8, #728

Here are some hints and the answers for Connections for June 8, #728.

Looking for the most recent 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, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s NYT Connections puzzle could be tricky. The purple category is one of those «sounds like» groups, that can be really tough to figure out. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times now has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

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

Yellow group hint: Keep at it.

Green group hint: Think Wall Street animals.

Blue group hint: Online encyclopedia subheads.

Purple group hint: $$$.