MSGID: 1:317/3 641149eb   
   PID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
   TID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
    Webb Telescope captures rarely seen prelude to supernova    
      
     Date:   
         March 14, 2023   
     Source:   
         NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center   
     Summary:   
         The rare sight of a Wolf-Rayet star -- among the most luminous,   
         most massive, and most briefly detectable stars known -- was one of   
         the first observations made by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope in   
         June 2022. Webb shows the star, WR 124, in unprecedented detail with   
         its powerful infrared instruments. The star is 15,000 light-years   
         away in the constellation Sagittarius.   
      
      
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   FULL STORY   
   ==========================================================================   
   The rare sight of a Wolf-Rayet star -- among the most luminous, most   
   massive, and most briefly detectable stars known -- was one of the   
   first observations made by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope in June   
   2022. Webb shows the star, WR 124, in unprecedented detail with its   
   powerful infrared instruments. The star is 15,000 light-years away in   
   the constellation Sagittarius.   
      
      
   ==========================================================================   
   Massive stars race through their lifecycles, and only some of   
   them go through a brief Wolf-Rayet phase before going supernova,   
   making Webb's detailed observations of this rare phase valuable to   
   astronomers. Wolf-Rayet stars are in the process of casting off their   
   outer layers, resulting in their characteristic halos of gas and dust. The   
   star WR 124 is 30 times the mass of the Sun and has shed 10 Suns' worth of   
   material -- so far. As the ejected gas moves away from the star and cools,   
   cosmic dust forms and glows in the infrared light detectable by Webb.   
      
   The origin of cosmic dust that can survive a supernova blast and   
   contribute to the universe's overall "dust budget" is of great interest   
   to astronomers for multiple reasons. Dust is integral to the workings   
   of the universe: It shelters forming stars, gathers together to help   
   form planets, and serves as a platform for molecules to form and clump   
   together -- including the building blocks of life on Earth. Despite   
   the many essential roles that dust plays, there is still more dust   
   in the universe than astronomers' current dust-formation theories can   
   explain. The universe is operating with a dust budget surplus.   
      
   Webb opens up new possibilities for studying details in cosmic dust, which   
   is best observed in infrared wavelengths of light. Webb's Near-Infrared   
   Camera (NIRCam) balances the brightness of WR 124's stellar core and   
   the knotty details in the fainter surrounding gas. The telescope's   
   Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) reveals the clumpy structure of the gas and   
   dust nebula of the ejected material now surrounding the star. Before Webb,   
   dust-loving astronomers simply did not have enough detailed information   
   to explore questions of dust production in environments like WR 124,   
   and whether the dust grains were large and bountiful enough to survive   
   the supernova and become a significant contribution to the overall dust   
   budget. Now those questions can be investigated with real data.   
      
   Stars like WR 124 also serve as an analog to help astronomers understand   
   a crucial period in the early history of the universe. Similar dying stars   
   first seeded the young universe with heavy elements forged in their cores   
   -- elements that are now common in the current era, including on Earth.   
      
   Webb's detailed image of WR 124 preserves forever a brief, turbulent time   
   of transformation, and promises future discoveries that will reveal the   
   long- shrouded mysteries of cosmic dust.   
      
       * RELATED_TOPICS   
             o Space_&_Time   
                   # Stars # Nebulae # Cosmology # Astronomy # NASA #   
                   Galaxies # Big_Bang # Astrophysics   
       * RELATED_TERMS   
             o Blue_supergiant_star o Spitzer_space_telescope o Supernova o   
             Alpha_Centauri o Stellar_evolution o Star_cluster o Milky_Way   
             o Star_Trek   
      
   ==========================================================================   
   Story Source: Materials provided by   
   NASA/Goddard_Space_Flight_Center. Note: Content may be edited for style   
   and length.   
      
      
   ==========================================================================   
   Related Multimedia:   
       * The_luminous,_hot_star_Wolf-Rayet_124_(WR_124)   
   ==========================================================================   
      
      
   Link to news story:   
   https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/03/230314205347.htm   
      
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