https://blogs.nasa.gov/webb/2023/08/21/webb-reveals-intricate-details-in-the-remains-of-a-dying-star/
Just for some additional context on the colours for anyone else who was interested:
This image is a composite of separate exposures acquired by the James Webb Space Telescope using the NIRCam (Near Infra-Red camera) instrument. Several filters were used to sample specific wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic (grayscale) image associated with an individual filter. In this case, the assigned colors are: Blue: F162M, Cyan: F212N, Green: F300M, Red: F335M
The bright ring that gives the nebula its name is composed of about 20,000 individual clumps of dense molecular hydrogen gas, each of them about as massive as the Earth. Within the ring, there is a narrow band of emission from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs – complex carbon-bearing molecules that we would not expect to form in the Ring Nebula. Outside the bright ring, we see curious “spikes” pointing directly away from the central star, which are prominent in the infrared but were only very faintly visible in Hubble Space Telescope images. We think these could be due to molecules that can form in the shadows of the densest parts of the ring, where they are shielded from the direct, intense radiation from the hot central star.
It's truly beautiful though. The dying breaths of a fading star. Maybe it even had a planet with people just like us at some stage.
Not to be naughty but this looks like something else…
https://webbtelescope.org/contents/media/images/01H82PE80A0KG96GTZJR4KY7G7
