JWST Reveals a Dying Star Surrounded by Mysterious Buckyballs in Stunning Detail

NASA's little busy-bee, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), just delivered another treasure giving scientists an unprecedented infrared look at the interior of the Tc 1 planetary nebula, located some 10,000 light-years away where complex carbon molecules known as buckminsterfullerene (affectionately called "buckyballs") are forged in the death throes of the central star. With these images, an international team led by Western University astronomers has finally been able to map the a 3D distribution of these soccer-ball-shaped structures.

Buckyballs are 60-carbon molecules that were first detected within Tc 1 in 2010 by Professor Jan Cami using the Spitzer Space Telescope. While that discovery proved they existed and survived in space, Spitzer’s vision was too blurry to show exactly where they were hidden. Fast forward to 2026 and we now have JWST's Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) instrument revealing an eye-catching scene of shimmering shells, wispy filaments, and radiating ...