In a rare capture, NASAs James Webb telescope captures star on cusp of death
The telescope's infrared eyes captured the gas and dust flung into space by the hot star.
ALSO READ |
A Martian Aurora? NASA's Curiosity captures heavenly sun rays on Mars
"Wolf-Rayet stars are in the process of casting off their outer layers, resulting in their characteristic halos of gas and dust," agency officials stated.
"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," stated NASA.
"Despite the many essential roles that dust plays, there is still more dust in the universe than astronomers' current dust-formation theories can explain, it added.
A shot of the same transitioning star was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope a few decades ago, but in that image, it appeared like a fireball.
WATCH | NASA launches uncrewed Roscosmos Soyuz spacecraft
According to scientists, such transformation takes place only with some stars and is generally the last stage before they explode, going supernova.
Weve never seen it like that before. Its really exciting, stated Macarena Garcia Marin, a European Space Agency scientist.
This star's constellation Sagittarius, which is officially called WR 124, is 30 times bigger than our sun and has shed enough material already to account for 10 suns, as per NASA.
(With inputs from agencies)
You cannow write for wionews.comand be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us
Wednesday, March 15, 2023 at 12:01 am