'Exposed Cranium' leaks its gory secrets in new James Webb telescope images: Space photo of the week

Two side by side images of a circular nebula, showing a cloud of golden gas surrounded by a blue bubble. The image on the left shows more background stars and a transparent bubble. The image on the right shows more of a yellow and green background with a bluer bubble.

QUICK FACTS

What it is: Nebula PMR 1, also known as the "Exposed Cranium"

Where it is: 5,000 light-years away in the constellation Vela

When it was shared: Feb. 25, 2026.

The powerful James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has revealed never-before-seen details of a cosmic "cranium" made of the glowing remains of a dying star. This brainy object, named PMR 1, is a planetary nebula — an expanding shell of ionized gas and dust expelled by a star in the final stages of its evolution, when the nuclear fuel within its core is depleted. It was first spotted in 2014 by the Spitzer Space Telescope (a predecessor to JWST) but has been little studied until now.The colorful cloud is said to resemble a brain encased within a transparent skull, which has led to it being dubbed the "Exposed Cranium" nebula.