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NGC 6072 (NIRCam Compass Image)

Image titled “James Webb Space Telescope; NGC 6072,” with compass arrows, scale bar, and color key. It has a mostly red image of near-infrared light from a glowing cloud with a distorted, asymmetrical shape, illuminated from within by a bright central star. In the center of this image, a light blue glow casts over mottled areas of dark pockets that appear dark blue and are traced with orange material. At the bottom right is a scale bar labeled .5 light-years. The length of the scale bar is about one fifth of the total image. At the bottom right are compass arrows indicating the orientation of the image on the sky. The east arrow points toward 12 o’clock. The north arrow points in the 3 o’clock direction. Below the image is a color key showing which NIRCam filters were used to create the image and which visible-light color is assigned to each filter. From left to right: F070W is blue, F1872N is cyan, F212W is green, F356W is yellow, F405M is orange, and F470N is red.

This image of NGC 6072, captured by the James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera), shows compass arrows, scale bar, and color key for reference.

The north and east compass arrows show the orientation of the image on the sky. Note that the relationship between north and east on the sky (as seen from below) is flipped to the direction arrows on a map of the ground (as seen from above).

The scale bar is labeled in light-years, which is the distance that light travels in one Earth-year. (It takes 0.5 years for light to travel a distance equal to the length of the scale bar.) One light-year is equal to about 5.88 trillion miles or 9.46 trillion kilometers.

This image shows invisible near-infrared wavelengths of light that have been translated into visible-light colors. The color key shows which NIRCam filters were used when collecting the light. The color of each filter name is the visible light color used to represent the infrared light that passes through that filter.

Read a full description of the image.

About the Object

  • R.A. Position
    R.A. PositionRight ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.
    16:12:58.4
  • Dec. Position
    Dec. PositionDeclination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.
    -36:13:49.3
  • Constellation
    ConstellationOne of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.
    Scorpius
  • Distance
    DistanceThe physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs.
    About 3,300 light-years
  • Dimensions
    DimensionsThe physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky.
    Image is 2.2 arcminutes across (about 2 light-years)

About the Data

  • Data Description
    Data DescriptionProposal: A description of the observations, their scientific justification, and the links to the data available in the science archive.
    Science Team: The astronomers who planned the observations and analyzed the data. "PI" refers to the Principal Investigator.

    This image was created with Webb data from proposal: 6554 (M. Garcia Marin). Image processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI).

  • Instrument
    InstrumentThe science instrument used to produce the data.
    NIRCam
  • Exposure Dates
    Exposure DatesThe date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.
    29 July 2024
  • Filters
    FiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.
    F070W, F187N, F212N, F356W, F405N, 470N
  • Object Name
    Object NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
    NGC 6072; IRAS F16097-3606
  • Object Description
    Object DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.
    Planetary nebula
  • Release Date
    July 30, 2025
  • Science Release
    NASA’s Webb Traces Details of Complex Planetary Nebula
    Read the release
  • Credit
    Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

Downloads

  • Full Res (For Print), 4320 × 5740
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  • Full Res (For Display), 4320 × 5740
    png (27.85 MB)
  • Full Res, 4320 × 5740
    jpg (16.34 MB)
  • 1505 × 2000
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Image titled “James Webb Space Telescope; NGC 6072,” with compass arrows, scale bar, and color key. It has a mostly red image of near-infrared light from a glowing cloud with a distorted, asymmetrical shape, illuminated from within by a bright central star. In the center of this image, a light blue glow casts over mottled areas of dark pockets that appear dark blue and are traced with orange material. At the bottom right is a scale bar labeled .5 light-years. The length of the scale bar is about one fifth of the total image. At the bottom right are compass arrows indicating the orientation of the image on the sky. The east arrow points toward 12 o’clock. The north arrow points in the 3 o’clock direction. Below the image is a color key showing which NIRCam filters were used to create the image and which visible-light color is assigned to each filter. From left to right: F070W is blue, F1872N is cyan, F212W is green, F356W is yellow, F405M is orange, and F470N is red.
Color Info
Color InfoA brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented.

This image is a composite of separate exposures acquired by the James Webb Space Telescope using the NIRCam instrument. Several filters were used to sample specific wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic (grayscale) image associated with an individual filter. In this case, the assigned colors are:   Blue: F070W, Cyan: F187N, Green: F212N, Yellow: F356W, Orange: F405N, Red: F470N

Related Images & Videos

Colorful, mostly red glowing cloud with a distorted, asymmetrical shape that is illuminated from within by a bright central star. The asymmetrical shape resembles a large squished bug on the ground. In the center, a light blue glow appears over areas of dark pockets that look dark blue and are traced with orange material. It has a clumpy appearance. Shells of gas and dust appear as lobes stretching from roughly 11 to 5 o’clock, another from 1 to 7 o’clock, and possibly a third from 12 to 6 o’clock. The shells become a deeper red with distance from the center. These outflows push gas toward the equatorial plane, forming a disk that appears to span from 9 to 3 o’clock. The background of space is black and speckled with tiny bright stars and distant galaxies.

NGC 6072 (NIRCam Image)

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s view of planetary nebula NGC 6072 in the near-infrared shows a complex scene of multiple outflows expanding out at different angles from a dying star at the center of the scene. In this image, the red areas represent cool molecular gas, for exa

Colorful, mostly blue image of mid-infrared light from a glowing cloud with a distorted, asymmetrical shape. A star at the center of the image is a small point of pinkish-white light. The asymmetrical shape of the expanding cloud of gas and dust resembles paint splattered on the ground. The filaments of the expanding shells are wispy, and mostly white and blue. The shells appear as lobes stretching from roughly 11 to 5 o’clock, another from 1 to 7 o’clock, and possibly a third from 12 to 6 o’clock. These outflows push gas toward the equatorial plane, forming a disk that appears to span from 9 to 3 o’clock. A perfect circle of whitish blue dust traces the outer edges of the shells. The background of the image is black and speckled with tiny bright stars and distant galaxies.

NGC 6072 (MIRI Image)

The mid-infrared view of planetary nebula NGC 6072 from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows expanding circular shells around the outflows from the dying central star, which astronomers suspect is the pinkish white dot at the center of the image.

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Details

Last Updated
Sep 04, 2025
Contact
Media

Laura Betz
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
laura.e.betz@nasa.gov

Image Credit

NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

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