Webb reveals more than one star contributes to the irregular shape of planetary nebula NGC 6072

Since the discovery of planetary nebulae in the late 1700s, astronomers have learned that these expanding shells of glowing gas expelled by low-intermediate mass stars late in their lives can come in all shapes and sizes. Most planetary nebulae present as circular, elliptical, or bi-polar, but some stray from the norm, as seen in new high-resolution images of the planetary nebula NGC 6072 by the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope.