The James Webb space telescope managed to photograph an exploding star 15,000 light-years away from Earth.
The images taken by the space telescope James Webb show a rare phenomenon that took place 15,000 light-years away from Earth. According to the US space agency NASA, the space telescope has taken a picture of the Wolfin-Rayet star called WR 124, which is about to explode.
– Webb’s detailed image of WR 124 forever preserves a brief, turbulent period of change, promising future discoveries that will reveal the long-obscured mysteries of cosmic dust, Nasa says (you switch to another service).
Wolfin-Rayet stars are among the brightest and largest stars in our universe.
Some stars transform into Wolfin-Rayet stars before exploding as a supernova, so it is rare for astronomers to detect them. Supernovae are very violently exploding stars.
The WR 124 star has a mass equal to 30 Suns, and has so far dropped at least ten Suns’ worth of material. WR 124 was one of the first observations made by the Webb Space Telescope in June 2022.