Accidental Discovery: Partially Built Telescope Captures Dying Star's Bow Shocks
On August 12, Nature published a report detailing an extraordinary image captured by a partially constructed telescope in the Andes of Chile, depicting a dying star expelling its remnants. While calibrating the Modular Optical Telephoto Hyperspectral Robotic Array (MOTHRA) telescope in November 2025, researchers observed the Helix Nebula, located 650 light-years from Earth. The image reveals 22 luminous arcs, known as bow shocks, created by stellar debris interacting with nearby gas. The Helix Nebula, also referred to as NGC 7293 or Caldwell 63, has an appearance reminiscent of an eye. Although MOTHRA currently has fewer than 200 of its intended 1,140 lenses, it aims to investigate stellar recycling, a task that may prove difficult, as noted by Kazimierz Borkowski.
Key facts
- MOTHRA telescope captured unprecedented image of Helix Nebula's bow shocks
- Observation happened by accident during calibration in November 2025
- Helix Nebula is a dying star located roughly 650 light-years from Earth
- Image shows 22 complete or partial bow shocks on the eastern outskirts
- Stellar debris flung at estimated 90,000 miles per hour
- Entire structure traveling at roughly 100,000 miles per hour
- Bow shocks closer to halo are large and sharply defined, farther ones fuzzier
- Process of erosion and dissolution estimated to take about 10,000 years
- MOTHRA will have 1,140 telephoto lenses when completed by end of year
- Sun expected to start dying in roughly five billion years
Entities
Artists
- Roberto Abraham
- Sun Kwok
- Kazimierz Borkowski
- Mary Randolph
- Monica Young
- K. R. Callaway
- Daniel Clery
Institutions
- University of Toronto
- University of British Columbia
- North Carolina State University
- Nature
- Science
- Scientific American
- Sky & Telescope
- New York Times
Locations
- Chilean Andes
- Chile
- Helix Nebula
- Canada
- United States