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Space Scientists Capture Never Before Seen Cosmic Spiral
The James Webb Space Telescope revealed four expanding dust shells produced over 700 years by two Wolf-Rayet stars in the rare gravitationally bound Apep triple system.
- Recently, NASA's James Webb Space Telescope delivered a first-of-its-kind mid-infrared image showing four coiled dust shells and confirmed three stars are gravitationally bound in the Apep system.
- When the two Wolf‑Rayet stars swing close, colliding winds mix and cast out carbon dust for decades, while the supergiant carves V-shaped cavities through each expanding shell.
- Previous ground-based observations had seen only one shell, but combining Webb's MIRI ring locations with VLT data revealed four shells expanding at about 1,200 miles per second.
- Webb's mid-IR sensitivity allowed researchers to detect faint emission from warm, largely amorphous carbon dust, advancing models of rare Wolf‑Rayet dust production and their supernova or black hole fates.
- Uniquely among known systems, Apep is the only galaxy example with two dust-producing Wolf‑Rayet stars, but its precise distance remains uncertain, requiring future observations as Han and White recently published.
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Webb Captures First-of-its-Kind Image of One-of-a-Kind Triple Star System
The NASA/CSA/ESA James Webb Space Telescope can add yet another "first" to its growing list of achievements. Using its mid-infrared camera, Webb detected four shells of dust around the unique triple-star Apep system. Prior images have shown just a single shell. One researcher likens Webb's imaging capabilities to turning on the light in a room that has always been dark.
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Total News Sources24
Leaning Left4Leaning Right2Center2Last UpdatedBias Distribution50% Left
Bias Distribution
- 50% of the sources lean Left
50% Left
L 50%
C 25%
R 25%
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