A new image from the James Webb Space Telescope shows an unusual sight – at least 17 concentric dust rings emanating from a pair of stars. The European Space Agency has already called it space “fingerprints”. These are Wolf-Rayet 140 stars, located 5,000 light years from Earth. Each ring was created when two stars approached and their winds (the streams of gas they blow into space) collided with each other, creating dust. This happens about once every eight years. This is similar to how rings form on a tree trunk over time.
The dust rings are actually thicker and wider than they appear in the image. This is confirmed by the MIRI instrument for spectroscopic observation in the mid-infrared range. Thanks to him, the James Webb team revealed the composition of dust formed mainly from material ejected by the star. Such stars are born with a mass of 25 times the mass of the Sun, and by the end of their lives they release huge amounts of gas into space, and then explode.
The Wolf-Rayet star in this particular pair may have lost more than half of its original mass through this process. The unique pattern of the rings is formed due to the fact that the star’s orbit is elongated, not circular. Scientists believe the winds cleared the surrounding area of ​​any residual material they might have encountered, which may be why the rings are so distinct. They also suggest that there are many more rings, just that these rings are barely visible, and the telescope cannot see them.
A new study provides evidence that Wolf-Rayet stars produce carbon-rich dust molecules. What’s more, the dust rings indicate that this dust can survive in the hostile environment between stars, continuing to supply material for future stars and planets. Astronomers estimate that there should be at least a few thousand Wolf-Rayet stars in our galaxy, but only about 600 have been discovered to date.
Source: Trash Box
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