NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has unveiled a breathtaking image of an aging binary star system, Apep, located around 8,000 light-years from Earth, shrouded in four swirling layers of cosmic dust. The newly captured mid-infrared snapshot reveals that the system was initially observed to have only one shell, but further examination has confirmed the presence of four shells, each composed of dense carbon dust emitted by the two Wolf-Rayet stars over the past 700 years.
The two massive stars, Apep's Wolf-Rayets, are nearing the end of their lives and are extremely rare in our galaxy. Scientists believe there may be only a thousand such stars in existence. Researchers from Caltech and Macquarie University in Sydney have combined measurements from the Webb telescope with decades-old data to reveal that these two supergiants "swing by each other" every 190 years, causing their stellar winds to collide and expel copious amounts of carbon-rich dust.
The latest discovery also confirms the presence of a third star gravitationally bound to the Wolf-Rayets. This massive supergiant is approximately 40-50 times larger than our sun and has carved a funnel-shaped cavity within the shells, visible in the image. The three stars are thought to have undergone significant mass shedding over time, with each reduced from their original size.
As Apep's Wolf-Rayet stars continue on their path, they will eventually explode into supernovae and potentially transform into black holes. This dramatic transformation offers a unique opportunity for scientists to study the final stages of these celestial behemoths and shed light on the mysteries of star evolution.
The two massive stars, Apep's Wolf-Rayets, are nearing the end of their lives and are extremely rare in our galaxy. Scientists believe there may be only a thousand such stars in existence. Researchers from Caltech and Macquarie University in Sydney have combined measurements from the Webb telescope with decades-old data to reveal that these two supergiants "swing by each other" every 190 years, causing their stellar winds to collide and expel copious amounts of carbon-rich dust.
The latest discovery also confirms the presence of a third star gravitationally bound to the Wolf-Rayets. This massive supergiant is approximately 40-50 times larger than our sun and has carved a funnel-shaped cavity within the shells, visible in the image. The three stars are thought to have undergone significant mass shedding over time, with each reduced from their original size.
As Apep's Wolf-Rayet stars continue on their path, they will eventually explode into supernovae and potentially transform into black holes. This dramatic transformation offers a unique opportunity for scientists to study the final stages of these celestial behemoths and shed light on the mysteries of star evolution.
, I'm so stoked about this new image from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope! The idea that there are only like a thousand binary star systems with Wolf-Rayet stars in our galaxy is just mind-blowing 
. And the fact that scientists can see these stars "swinging" by each other every 190 years is crazy cool 
. I'm also loving the new details about the third massive supergiant star, it's like a cosmic puzzle piece that fits perfectly into our understanding of these celestial events 
. This stuff is gonna blow our minds when we see more discoveries like this from space!
. And the fact that it was only supposed to have one shell, but turned out to be FOUR shells? 
.
Mind blown all over again! This massive supergiant is like, 40-50 times larger than our sun and has carved out a funnel-shaped cavity within the shells. I need to know more about this thing! 
. #ApepBinaryStarSystem #JamesWebbSpaceTelescope #CosmicDust #Supernovae #BlackHoles
it's like looking at a cosmic work of art, with all those swirling layers of dust and these massive stars just floating around it. I mean, 8k years is a long time, and to think that we're getting to see the final stages of their lives like this is just mind-blowing. and the fact that there might be only a thousand of these Wolf-Rayet stars in our galaxy makes them even more special 
we need to learn more about these Wolf-Rayet stars, how rare are they? can we find more of them? and what happens when they finally explode into supernovae? is it gonna be a super bright event that we can see from earth? 
about this stunning image of Apep! The way those cosmic dust layers swirl around the Wolf-Rayet stars is like something straight out of a sci-fi movie 
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and the fact that these two massive stars are "swinging" by each other every 190 years is wild 
and getting to study their final stages before they become supernovae is, like, totally epic 
. can you even imagine how crazy it'd be to study them when they explode into supernovae?! 
like Interstellar or Star Wars. And the fact that it took years to confirm that there were four shells instead of one is just mind-blowing