NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) had a rare find because it captured a huge star's dying days. Researchers witnessed what the star was going through before it went supernova.
Giant Star in Wolf-Rayet Phase
NASA released images of WR 124, a rare Wolf-Rayet star 15,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Sagittarius. According to NASA officials in a statement, giant stars race through their lifecycles, and only some reach the Wolf-Rayet phase, the stage before they go supernova or explode. The ejected gas moves away from the stars and cools; cosmic dust forms and glows in the infrared light making it visible for JWST.
According to NASA, astronomers are interested in learning about the origin of cosmic dust that survive a supernova blast and contribute to the universe's overall "dust budget." Dust is important in the development of the universe because it shelters forming stars, gathers together to form plants, and serves as a platform for molecules to form, which are the building blocks of life on Earth.
There is more dust in the universe because the latter operates with a dust budget surplus.
Webb paves the way for more avenues for examining the finer intricacies of cosmic dust, which is best seen in infrared light. The WR 124 star core's brilliance and the intricate details in the surrounding gas are balanced by Webb's Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam). The Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) of the telescope depicts the clumpy structure of the gas and dust nebula made up of the expelled material that is currently encircling the star.
Before Webb, astronomers interested in dust lacked the necessary information to investigate issues related to dust production in environments like WR 124 and whether the dust grains were large and plentiful enough to survive the supernova and contribute significantly to the overall dust budget. Now, those issues may be researched using actual data.
A brief, chaotic period of transition is preserved forever in Webb's fine-grained image of WR 124, and it heralds future discoveries that will shed light on the long-obscured mysteries of cosmic dust.
More About WR 124
WR 124 is a star that is 30 times bigger than the Sun. It has already shed ten times the Sun's worth of material so far.
Stars like WR 124 serve as an analog to help astronomers understand a crucial period in the universe's early history. Dying stars similar to WR 124 seeded the young universe with heavy elements forged in their cores, which are still common today and observed even on Earth.
According to WEBB Space Telescope, the cooler cosmic dust glows at, the longer mid-infrared wavelengths and exposes the star's nebula. The ten light-years-wide nebula includes materials from aging stars ejected randomly and dust produced from turbulence.
It was the stage of mass loss before the star went supernova. When the nuclear fusion in its core stops and the pressure of gravity collapse before it explodes.
Webb can help astronomers explore the questions left to the theory about how much dust stars are created before exploding in a supernova and how many are large enough to survive the explosion to serve as building blocks of future planets, stars, and molecules.
JWST is the world's premier space science observatory and is expected to help solve the mysteries in the solar system. It was launched on Dec. 25, 2021, atop a European Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana, Space.com reported.
The $10 billion observatory journeyed toward the Earth-Sun Lagrange Point 2, a gravitationally stable spot in space about 930,000 miles from our planet. It reached LT late in January 2022. It also unfolded its huge sunshield and multi-segment primary mirror that involved a complex deployment sequence.
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