ASKAP-EMU radio contours overlaid on a Hubble Space Telescope image of NGC 5189, dubbed the Infinity nebula. (From Asher et al. 2025)

Planetary nebulae (PNe) are shells of gas that are shed during the terminal phase for the majority of stars between 1 and 8 solar masses, when they transition from the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) to the white dwarf stage. The transitioning star ionises the surrounding shells and these remain visible for thousands of years, providing crucial insight into the recent mass loss rate, mechanism and nucleosynthesis of the AGB star, as well as the evolution of the parent galaxy. Asher at al. report the radio continuum detection of well-known Galactic Planetary Nebula (PN) NGC 5189, observed at 943 MHz during the ASKAP Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU) survey. Two detections of NGC 5189 have been made during the survey, of better resolution than previous radio surveys. The team measure an apparent size of 3.4 arcminutes × 2.2 arcminutes, corresponding to physical diameters of 1.48 parsecs × 0.96 parsecs. Observational data agree with previous findings that NGC 5189 is a thermal (free–free) emitting nebula. In the image above, the radio contours from the ASKAP–EMU image have been overlaid onto a Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Wide Field Camera 3 image, demonstrating that the radio morphology closely traces the optical, and making it apparent why the team chose for this object the moniker the “Infinity” nebula. Notably, the contour alignment for the innermost region highlights the two envelopes of gas previously reported to be low-ionisation structures, which is considered a defining feature of post common–envelope PNe that surround a central Wolf-Rayet star. As NGC 5189 lies within our Galaxy, at a distance of ~1.5 kiloparsecs from Earth, and ASKAP is able to detect much more distant objects, we can claim that ASKAP can see “to Infinity, and beyond”!