Overview
- The WEAVE instrument’s Large Integral Field Unit mapped the Ring Nebula’s light across its face, revealing a narrow, previously unseen iron structure in the inner region.
- The feature emits from highly ionized iron ([Fe V] and [Fe VI]) with no other elements showing the same morphology or radial velocity at the study’s spectral resolution.
- The bar spans roughly 500 times Pluto’s orbit and contains an iron mass comparable to Mars, standing out from the nebula’s familiar ring of gas.
- Researchers outline two leading origins: asymmetric stellar ejecta during nebula formation or the vaporized remains of a rocky planet, with current data unable to choose between them.
- Comparisons with JWST dust maps hint at possible grain destruction, yet no evidence is seen for the high-velocity shocks or million-degree X-ray gas that would typically drive it, and higher-resolution WEAVE observations and surveys of other nebulae are planned.