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Everdust AtlasPlanetary nebula · Vela

The Southern Ring Nebula

The Southern Ring Nebula is a planetary nebula: layers of gas and dust thrown off by a dying star, about 2,500 light-years away in the southern constellation Vela. The star that made it is the dimmer of two at its center; the brighter one is its companion. A small telescope shows it as a bright oval glow round a central star.

The Southern Ring Nebula in Everdust: an oval shell glowing blue-white inside, ringed by jagged orange layers, with a star at its center
Rendered in Everdust: the Southern Ring as you arrive, from Webb's photograph (Night Sky, in Everdust for Apple Vision Pro). Webb's photograph given depth as a thin shell round the central star (De Marco et al. 2022); the faint glow beyond is interpolated. Built from the photograph below.

When to see it

Best evenings: February to June (southern hemisphere).

Seen from south of about 40° N. Choose your city for tonight’s times and where to look.

“Up” means at least 10° above the horizon while the Sun is at least 12° below it (dark enough for faint nebulae and galaxies). Your location, if you share it, stays on this device.

At a glance

Distance
2,500 light-years [1]
The light you see left it
around 500 BCE
Constellation
Vela
Position (J2000)
RA 10h 07m 02s, Dec −40° 26′
Visible from
south of about 40° N (farther north it never climbs 10° above the horizon)
High in the evening (9 pm)
February to June from mid-southern latitudes
How to see it
With a small telescope

The Southern Ring Nebula tonight from four cities

CityTonight
New YorkOnly ever low on your horizon here; best in February.only ever low here
Los AngelesUp after 4:50 am, best around 5:30 am, look south.best 5:30 am, 13° up, south
LondonAlways below your horizon here.never rises here
SydneyUp after 12:50 am, best around 4:45 am, look south-east.best 4:45 am, 53° up, south-east

Tonight in each city’s local time, computed November 8, 2026 with Astronomy Engine (the page refreshes every hour). For your own city, choose it above.

Webb's near-infrared photograph of the Southern Ring Nebula: a teal oval with a bright star at its center, wrapped in many orange rippled shells on a field of distant galaxies
Southern Ring Nebula (NIRCam Image) (the photograph Everdust's world is built from). Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, and the Webb ERO Production Team. ESA/Webb weic2207b, CC BY 4.0.

The Southern Ring Nebula: the facts

Also calledNGC 3132 [1]
Made bythe dimmer of the two central stars, which has thrown off at least eight layers of gas and dust over thousands of years [2]
Webb foundthat the dying star is cloaked in dust [1]
Behind itmany distant galaxies, including one seen edge-on as a thin bright line [2]

Why are the Southern Ring's shells so jagged?

The two central stars orbit each other closely. As they swing round, the dying star sprays its gas in a changing range of directions, and the brighter companion stirs the gas up, so the shells come out uneven rather than smooth. Light from the bright star streams through gaps in the shells like sunlight through breaks in a cloud.

Stars like the Sun end this way: they puff off their outer layers, and the hot core left behind, a white dwarf, makes the gas glow for a few tens of thousands of years before it fades.

Step inside the Southern Ring Nebula in Everdust

In Everdust’s Night Sky, look at the Southern Ring Nebula and pinch to fly there on Apple Vision Pro, or tap it on iPhone, iPad and Android. What you arrive in, in the app’s own words: “The Southern Ring Nebula as it is today: Webb's photograph of a dying star's shells, given depth.”

Everdust on the App Store for iPhone, iPad and Vision ProEverdust on Google Play for Android

Everdust is free on the App Store for Apple Vision Pro, iPhone and iPad, and on Google Play for Android; Night Sky flies to the Southern Ring Nebula on all of them. It is also free on Apple TV, with other worlds. I make Everdust, so weigh that; a star-map app such as Stellarium or SkySafari will find the Southern Ring Nebula just as well.

Questions people ask

Can I see the Southern Ring Nebula tonight? It depends on where you are. It can be seen from south of about 40° N, and it is best in the evening sky February to June from mid-southern latitudes. Choose your city on this page for tonight's times and where to look. With a small telescope: A small telescope shows a bright oval with a star in the middle; it's best from the Southern Hemisphere.

Where is the Southern Ring Nebula in the sky? In the constellation Vela, at right ascension 10h 07m 02s and declination −40° 26′ (J2000). It can be seen from south of about 40° N (farther north it never climbs 10° above the horizon).

How far away is the Southern Ring Nebula? About 2,500 light-years (ESA/Webb), in Vela.

Is the Southern Ring Nebula related to the Ring Nebula? Only in kind: both are planetary nebulae, shells of gas from dying stars. The Ring Nebula (M57) is in Lyra in the northern sky; the Southern Ring is in Vela in the southern sky.

Sources

  1. Distance: “It is approximately 2500 light-years away” (esawebb.org, the figure Everdust uses)
  2. ESA/Webb weic2207b: Southern Ring Nebula (NIRCam Image)

Distance and position: the deep-sky catalog in Everdust’s Night Sky (read November 1, 2026), each figure quoted from the source above. Constellation, seasons and tonight are computed with Astronomy Engine (Don Cross, MIT license). More: Wikipedia.

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