Dying star lights up the Helix Nebula

The Helix Nebula. Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

In the Helix Nebula, a star much like our own is dying. Its death, though, creates a spectacle for us to appreciate now we have the James Webb Space Telescope to observe it. Knots of bright gas, fierce stellar winds, the dust that new things come from-and the possible …