Using its Near-InfraRed Camera (NIRCam), NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope captured never-before-seen details of the Red Spider Nebula, a planetary nebula, in this image released on Oct. 26, 2025. NIRCam is Webb’s primary near-infrared imager, providing high-resolution imaging and spectroscopy for a wide variety of investigations.
Webb’s new view of the Red Spider Nebula reveals for the first time the full extent of the nebula’s outstretched lobes, which form the ‘legs’ of the spider. These lobes, shown in blue, are traced by light emitted from H2 molecules, which contain two hydrogen atoms bonded together. Stretching over the entirety of NIRCam’s field of view, these lobes are shown to be closed, bubble-like structures that each extend about 3 light-years. Outflowing gas from the center of the nebula has inflated these massive bubbles over thousands of years.
Image credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, J. H. Kastner (Rochester Institute of Technology)
在这张于2025年10月26日发布的图像中，NASA詹姆斯·韦伯太空望远镜使用其近红外相机（NIRCam）首次捕捉到了红蜘蛛星云这一行星状星云前所未见的细节。NIRCam是韦伯的主要近红外成像仪，可提供高分辨率成像和光谱数据，用于广泛的科学研究。
韦布的全新视角首次展现出红蜘蛛星云伸展的巨大双叶结构——也就是它的“蜘蛛腿”。图中以蓝色呈现的这些云叶由H2分子（由两个氢原子结合而成）发出的光勾勒而出。它们横跨整个NIRCam视场，每个都是封闭的、类似气泡的结构，延伸长度约3光年。星云中心流出的气体在数千年间不断膨胀，形成了这些庞大的泡状气壳。
图片来源: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, J. H. Kastner (Rochester Institute of Technology)
