Cosmic Dust Rings Spotted by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope
An image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope reveals a remarkable sight: at least 17 concentric dust rings emanating from a pair of stars located about 5,300 light-years from Earth. Each ring was created when the stars came close together and their colliding stellar winds (streams of gas they blow into space) caused some of the gas to compress into dust.
Collectively known as Wolf-Rayet 140, the stars’ orbits bring them together about once every eight years, so just like the growth rings of a tree trunk, these dusty loops mark the passage of time: The 17 rings reveal more than a century of stellar interactions. And while other Wolf-Rayet stars produce dust, no other pair is known to produce rings quite like Wolf-Rayet 140.
Because the stars’ orbits are elliptical rather than circular, the distance between the stars changes constantly, and dust forms only when they are close. The amount of dust produced by this interaction varies, so the system doesn’t form a perfect bullseye. One of the densest regions of dust production creates the bright feature repeating at 2 o’clock.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
-
3:47
Michael Heaver
21 hours agoPoland Demands EU REFERENDUM
1.34K30 -
1:51:54
The Pat Bev Podcast with Rone
6 hours agoPat Bev and Rone Live 🔴 | Oklahoma City Thunder @ Dallas Mavericks Game 4 | Pat Bev Podcast w/ Rone
11.8K3 -
2:06:05
SNEAKO
13 hours agoSNEAKO X RAMPAGE JACKSON X MATAN EVEN
90.9K56 -
1:48:48
Kim Iversen
9 hours agoCAREER REHAB: Cuomo & Dr. Birx Demand Probe Into Vax Injuries | Dr Phil And Lindsey Graham Make Genocidal Statements
59.2K189 -
49:16
The Nima Yamini Show
4 days agoArab X Nima X Luke Belmar
44.3K11 -
42:35
TENET Media
14 hours agoDemocrat Forced to Apologize for Racist Remark | Dave Rubin & Arynne Wexler
46.5K45 -
1:37:44
The Anthony Rogers Show
13 hours agoEpisode 309 - Pretending to be Black to get into Med School
37.5K4 -
1:15:57
Glenn Greenwald
11 hours agoJen Psaki's Lies Expose the Fraud of "Disinformation"; Israelis Endanger Americans and Block Humanitarian Aid | SYSTEM UPDATE #269
76.1K123 -
54:19
LFA TV
22 hours agoDonald Trump Is More Popular Than Ever | Trumpet Daily 5.13.24 9pm EST
43.7K11 -
58:23
The StoneZONE with Roger Stone
13 hours agoTrump Sets Record With Largest Campaign Rally In American History – The StoneZONE w/ Roger Stone
62.2K24