The prelude to a supernova

The James Webb Space Telescope has captured, in greater detail than any previous comparable observation, what a star in an unusual phase, somewhat prior to the star’s supernova explosion, looked like. A supernova is a type of stellar explosion in which all of the star except its ultradense core is destroyed, ejecting matter a great distance.

The observed star, very bright and hot, is called Wolf-Rayet 124 (WR 124) and stands out in the center of the photo. The image combines near-infrared and mid-infrared wavelengths of light obtained by Webb’s near-infrared camera and mid-infrared instrument.

Massive stars go through their life cycles very quickly, with only a few of them experiencing a brief Wolf-Rayet phase before going supernovae, making Webb’s detailed observations of this rare phase invaluable. for astronomers.

Wolf-Rayet stars are in the process of shedding their outer layers, resulting in their characteristic halos of gas and dust.

The star WR 124 has 30 times the mass of the Sun and, so far, has shed material equivalent to 10 suns. As the ejected gas moves away from the star and cools, it forms cosmic dust that glows in the infrared light detectable by the Webb.

(Image: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI/Webb ERO Production Team)

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is the result of an international collaboration led by NASA, ESA and CSA, respectively the US, European and Canadian space agencies. (Source: NASA)