An unprecedented look into a butterfly nebula from the James Webb Telescope

Scientists say the James Webb Space Telescope has captured an unprecedented look inside a butterfly nebula, revealing matter around a dying star.

The international space community, consisting of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency, released the new imagery Wednesday, which exposed complex features in the heart of NGC 6302, located about 3,400 light-years away from Earth in the constellation known as Scorpius.

The vast region of gases and dust was previously studied by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope , but scientists say Webb’s high-resolution imagery offers the clearest portrait yet of complex layers.

Planetary nebulae form when giant stars exhaust their fuel and shed their outer layers, leaving behind a hot core that illuminates the gas and dust surrounding