  The planetary nebula (PN) NGC3132 is a striking example of the dramatic but
poorly understood, mass-loss phenomena that (1-8) Msun stars undergo during
their death throes as they evolve into white dwarfs (WDs). From an analysis of
JWST multiwavelength (0.9-18 micron) imaging of NGC3132, we report the
discovery of an asymmetrical dust cloud around the WD central star (CS) of
NGC3132, seen most prominently in the 18 micron~image, with a
surface-brightness limited radial extent of >~2 arcsec. We show that the A2V
star located 1.7 arcsec to CS's North-East (and 0.75 kpc from Earth) is
gravitationally-bound to the latter, by the detection of relative orbital
angular motion of (0.24+/-0.045) deg between these stars over ~20 yr. Using
aperture photometry of the CS extracted from the JWST images, together with
published optical photometry and an archival UV spectrum, we have constructed
the spectral-energy distribution (SED) of the CS and its extended emission over
the UV to mid-IR (0.091-18 micron) range. We find that fitting the SED of the
CS and the radial intensity distributions at 7.7, 12.8 and 18 micron with
thermal emission from dust requires a cloud that extends to a radius of >~1785
au, with a dust mass of ~1.3 x 10^(-2) M(Earth) and grains that are 70%
silicate and 30% amorphous carbon. We propose plausible origins of the dust
cloud and an evolutionary scenario in which a system of three stars -- the CS,
a close low-mass companion, and a more distant A2V star -- forms a stable
hierarchical triple system on the main-sequence but becomes dynamically
unstable later, resulting in the spectacular mass-ejections that form the
current, multipolar PN.
