WASHINGTON: Astronomers studying the famed Ring Nebula have discovered a striking and unexpected feature: a massive cloud of iron atoms shaped like a bar stretching across the nebula’s face. The finding adds a fresh mystery to one of the most familiar and well-studied objects in the night sky.
The Ring Nebula, also known as Messier 57, was first identified in 1779 by French astronomer Charles Messier and lies about 2,600 light-years from Earth in the constellation Lyra. Though it has been observed for generations, new technology has now revealed something entirely unforeseen, according to Reuters.
Using the newly commissioned WEAVE instrument (WHT Enhanced Area Velocity Explorer) on the William Herschel Telescope in Spain’s Canary Islands, researchers detected the iron structure spanning roughly 3.7 trillion miles (6 trillion kilometers). The total amount of iron is estimated to be comparable to the mass of Earth’s molten iron core.
“What makes this so intriguing is that no other chemical element we’ve detected forms a similar structure,” said Janet Drew of University College London, a co-author of the study. “Frankly, it’s weird—and that’s what makes it exciting.”
One possible explanation, though still speculative, is that the iron could be the remains of a rocky planet that was vaporized when the nebula’s parent star shed its outer layers. The star, once about twice the mass of the Sun, expanded into a red giant before expelling its gas and dust and collapsing into a white dwarf roughly the size of Earth.
“A planet like Earth would contain enough iron to create such a feature,” said lead author Roger Wesson of Cardiff University and University College London. “But how that iron would end up arranged in a bar shape is something we don’t yet understand.”
Formed around 4,000 years ago—a blink of an eye in cosmic terms—the Ring Nebula is composed mostly of hydrogen and helium, with trace amounts of heavier elements. It appears ring-shaped from Earth, though astronomers believe it is more accurately described as a cylindrical structure viewed end-on.
The discovery highlights how even the most familiar cosmic objects can still hold surprises when examined with new tools. More than 3,000 planetary nebulae are known in the Milky Way, and studying them helps scientists understand how stars recycle elements into space, ultimately contributing to future generations of stars and planets.
“It’s exciting to see that a classic object, studied for decades, can still reveal something completely new,” Wesson said. “We’re looking forward to gathering more data to figure out where this iron bar came from—and what it can tell us about the fate of planets and stars alike.”
