What happens when two rare Wolf–Rayet stars dance through space? ✨
@esawebb just revealed the answer: four perfect, spiralling shells of carbon-rich dust, cast off over centuries and expanding like a cosmic vortex.
This is Apep - a chaotic triple-star system where fierce stellar winds collide, carve tunnels in the dust, and hint at the powerful supernovae these stars will one day become.
Webb’s mid-infrared view uncovers every twist of this turbulent story with unprecedented clarity, helping scientists map Apep’s long, 190-year orbit and understand how some of the Universe’s most extreme stars live and eventually die.
📹 @europeanspaceagency
🎞️ @NASA, ESA, @canadianspaceagency, @space_telescopes, Y. Han (@caltechedu), R. White (@macquarieuni), A. Pagan (STScI), @creativecommons BY 4.0; @esoastronomy/Callingham et al.; White et al.; Yinuo Han (Caltech), Ryan White (Macquarie University); Visualization: Christian Nieves (STScI); Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI); @hubbleesa (M...