"Tc 1 was already extraordinary, as it was the object that told us buckyballs exist in space, but this new image shows us we had only scratched the surface, said Jan Cami, principal investigator of the new JWST project that looked at Tc 1 and lead author of the 2010 study outlining the discovery of buckyballs in space."
"The structures we're seeing now are breathtaking, and they raise as many questions as they answer."
In 2010, astronomers discovered buckyballs, or buckminsterfullerene molecules, in a planetary nebula formed from a dying star. These molecules consist of 60 carbon atoms arranged in a soccer-ball shape. Recent observations from the James Webb Space Telescope of the nebula Tc 1, located 10,000 light-years away, revealed new structures, including an unusual upside-down question mark shape. The findings suggest that the study of dying stars and their impact on the cosmos is still in its early stages, raising further questions about these celestial phenomena.
Read at www.scientificamerican.com
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