NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope Captures Stunning Image of Rare Wolf-Rayet Star in Sagittarius Constellation

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured a stunning image of a Wolf-Rayet star in the Sagittarius constellation, 15,000 light-years away from Earth. WR 124 is one of the most luminous and massive stars in the universe and is in the brief Wolf-Rayet phase before going supernova.

The image, released Tuesday at the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas, shows the Wolf-Rayet star in unprecedented detail, casting a shimmering purple halo as it ejects gas. Massive stars like WR 124 burn through their fuel, like hydrogen, over a few hundred thousand years, which is a short time astronomically speaking.

As the gas moves away from the star, it cools, and cosmic dust forms and glows in the infrared light detectable by Webb. Astronomers consider this phase of a star’s life to be valuable, as it is rare to spot a Wolf-Rayet before it explodes in a supernova.

“Webb’s detailed observations of this rare phase are valuable to astronomers,” said NASA in a statement. “Massive stars race through their lifecycles, and only some of them go through a brief Wolf-Rayet phase before going supernova.”

The James Webb Space Telescope is a joint project between NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Canadian Space Agency. It is set to launch in 2021 and will be the most powerful space telescope ever built. It will be used to study stars, galaxies, and planets, and to search for signs of life in the universe.