Name: What do the James Webb Images tell us about our Sun's fate?
Uploaded: 2022-07-27T20:02:29.000000Z
Description: It's easy to internalize the story of the Southern Ring Nebula as the sun's own destiny — written in, well, the stars.

What do the James Webb images tell us about the sun's fate?

The sun is middle-aged?!

The Southern Ring Nebula looks as though a bomb dropped into an ocean, tsunami waves surging away, into the darkness. Cosmic light, presented in the colors of a lapis stone, seems to fill a gaping crater in space. For fatalists the world over, gazing into this planetary nebula some 2,500 light-years away may not have inspired celebratory feelings — rather, a foreboding of what's to come. It's easy to internalize the story of the Southern Ring Nebula as the sun's own destiny — written in, well, the stars.

Topics NASA

Elisha Sauers

Elisha Sauers writes about space for Mashable, taking deep dives into NASA's moon and Mars missions, chatting up astronauts and history-making discoverers, and jetting above the clouds. Through 17 years of reporting, she's covered a variety of topics, including health, business, and government, with a penchant for public records requests. She previously worked for The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Virginia, and The Capital in Annapolis, Maryland. Her work has earned numerous state awards, including the Virginia Press Association's top honor, Best in Show, and national recognition for narrative storytelling. For each year she has covered space, Sauers has won National Headliner Awards, including first place for her Sex in Space series. Send space tips and story ideas to [email protected] or text 443-684-2489. Follow her on X at @elishasauers.