NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has come through yet again with an unprecedented image from our Solar System, this time of a unique pair of Wolf-Rayet stars known as Apep. A Wolf-Rayet is a massive, very hot star that’s in the later stages of its life, quickly losing mass with the help of strong stellar winds. Thanks to Webb, researchers were able to observe coiled shells of dust around the pair for the first time. Previous documentation collected by other telescopes had only ever shown one dust shell.
What makes this observation especially interesting is that there’s actually a third fiery orb at play here, which Webb’s new data confirms is gravitationally bound to the other two in this system. A massive supergiant, this third player “slices” holes into the dust shells—which have been emitted over the last 700 years—creating a unique effect. “To find the holes the third star has cut like a knife through the dust, look for the central point of light and trace a V shape from about 10 o’clock to 2 o’clock,” NASA says.
The celestial phenomena’s name, Apep, references the Egyptian god of chaos. Because while it may appear to be moving slowly, these swirling clouds race at a remarkable speed. “The dust-producing Wolf-Rayet stars in Apep aren’t exactly on a tranquil cruise,” NASA says. “They are whipping through space and sending out dust at 1,200 to 2,000 miles per second.” Because the dust is so dense, it shows up clearly in the image.
“Webb’s data, combined with observations from the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile, confirmed that the two Wolf-Rayet stars sail past one another approximately every 190 years,” says a statement. “Over each orbit, they make a close pass for 25 years, producing and spewing amorphous carbon dust.”
Find more on NASA’s website.
