Astronomers from University College London and Cardiff University have discovered a mysterious bar-shaped cloud of iron inside the Ring Nebula.

The cloud, roughly 500 times the length of Pluto’s orbit and with a mass comparable to Mars, fits within the nebula’s inner layer.

Observations were made using the Large Integral Field Unit (LIFU) mode of the WEAVE instrument on the William Herschel Telescope.

The Ring Nebula, a colorful shell of gas ejected by a dying star, is located in the constellation Lyra and is similar to what our sun will eventually produce, Phys.org has reported.

This is the first time spectra have been obtained across the nebula at all optical wavelengths, revealing the unique structure of the iron cloud.