Astrophysicist reveals ancient star system, named Apep, after Egyptian serpent god of destruction. Apep is an infrared photo of two dying stars, named Wolf-Rayet stars, with a huge spiral of dust surrounding them.
The team had been waiting for five years to study this system using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The new image shows the dust in a unique shape, unlike any other pinwheel nebula. The JWST data revealed that Apep is not just one powerful star and its weaker companion but two equal rival stars.
The team discovered three more dust shells, each cooler and fainter than the last, spaced evenly against a background of swirling dust. These findings were published in two papers on arXiv by Caltech astronomer Yinuo Han and Macquarie University Masters student Ryan White.
Han’s paper suggests that the nebula’s dust cools and links the background dust to the foreground stars, implying that the stars are farther away from Earth than initially thought. This discovery weakens their original claim about slow winds and rapid rotation.
White’s paper develops a fast computer model for the shape of the nebula and decodes the orbit of the inner stars precisely. He also noticed a “bite” taken out of the dust shells, indicating that Apep has a third sibling.
Understanding this ancient star system sheds light on star deaths and the origins of carbon dust, but its unique beauty emerges from its simple geometry. The discovery is a scientific joy to unravel, revealing puzzles that would have fascinated Newton and Archimedes.
Source: https://theconversation.com/swirling-nebula-of-two-dying-stars-revealed-in-spectacular-detail-in-new-webb-telescope-image-258314