January 19, 2026 10:11 PM
Astronomers spot mysterious ‘iron bar’ in well-known Ring Nebula
The Ring Nebula, a stunning celestial structure residing in our neighborhood of the Milky Way galaxy, was discovered by French astronomer Charles Messier in 1779 and has been studied extensively ever since. But that does not mean we have it all figured out. Researchers have spotted a large cloud of iron atoms in the shape of a bar stretching about 3.7 trillion miles (6 trillion km) long across the face of the nebula, which is a glowing shell of gas and dust expelled by a dying star, and are sea...