On Tuesday, NASA released rare images captured by the James Webb Space Telescope. a Wolf-Rayet type star in the final stage of its evolution – WR-124 –. The star, which is about to go supernova with an extremely powerful and bright explosion, is located in Sagittarius, 15,000 light-years from Earth.
Images from WR-124, 30 times the mass of the Sun, recorded in June 2022 when Webb began taking the first pictures of the cosmos, show the star in the process of changing its outer layers. the appearance of gas and dust halos typical of stars of the species.
According to NASA officials’ description of the images, even though massive stars go through their life cycles, only “some go through a brief Wolf-Rayet phase before going supernova”. This makes these records extremely important to astronomers, especially those who study cosmic dust.
Dust and the workings of the universe
According to NASA, WR-124 has “shed 10 Suns’ worth of material so far”. This is because when the star runs out of nuclear fuel, it starts ejecting gas that moves away and cools. Then, The cosmic dust formed becomes bright in infrared light.wavelength characteristic of the James Webb telescope.
Dust is an integral part of how the universe works: it houses forming stars, collects to help form planets, and serves as a platform for molecules to form and clump together – studying this material, including the building blocks of structure, is crucial. The statement from the American space agency ends as “life on Earth”.
Therefore, by shedding light on dust generation in environments such as the WR-124’s surroundings, These previously theoretical questions can be studied with real data.
Source: Tec Mundo
I’m Blaine Morgan, an experienced journalist and writer with over 8 years of experience in the tech industry. My expertise lies in writing about technology news and trends, covering everything from cutting-edge gadgets to emerging software developments. I’ve written for several leading publications including Gadget Onus where I am an author.
