JWST Discovers Hollow Shell of Buckytballs in Tc 1 Nebula
TL;DR
The James Webb Space Telescope’s Mid-Infrared Instrument images the planetary nebula Tc 1, revealing buckyballs arranged in a thin hollow shell around the central star and enabling exact chemical mapping through integral field unit spectroscopy. This builds on the 2010 Spitzer discovery led by Jan Cami, offering new clues about how these carbon-based molecules form and persist in space, and highlighting a surprising, spiral-like structure and a mysterious inverted question-mark feature in Tc 1.
- James Webb Space Telescope Captures Incredible Details of Buckyballs’ Cosmic Home The Daily Galaxy
- New JWST images reveal cosmic question marks and buckyballs in a planetary nebula Scientific American
- Western astronomers unveil stunning new image of cosmic ‘buckyball’ origins CBC
- James Webb Space Telescope peers into a dying star surrounded by mysterious buckyballs Space
- Astronomers reveal spectacular birthplace of cosmic buckyballs Phys.org
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