Space Sundays: Four “Shells” Around Two Ancient Wolf-Rayet Stars — At Apep (2XMM J160050.7-514245)

These paired oddballs are billions of years old, and were spotted (only a thousand or so are thought to exist, in our galaxy of hundreds and hundreds of billions of stars, here alone -- among billions of galaxies) with the aid of the JWST. But to be fair, the proper quadrant of the sky in which to look for them was first confirmed. . . with Earth-based telescopes.

Here's the latest, from SciNews.com:

. . .Using the NASA/ESA/CSA JWST with data from ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), two teams of astronomers have captured a mid-infrared image of a system of four serpentine spirals of dust around two aging Wolf-Rayet stars in a system known as Apep (2XMM J160050.7-514245). . . .

In new research, Macquarie University astronomer Ryan White and colleagues aimed to refine the orbit of the Wolf-Rayet stars in the Apep system. . . .

“This is a one-of-a-kind system with an extremely long orbital period,” White said. “The next longest orbit for a dusty Wolf-Rayet binary is about 30 years. Most have orbits between two to 10 years.” The team’s paper was published simultaneously in the Astrophysical Journal with another paper, led by Caltech astronomer Yinuo Han.

“Looking at the new JWST observations was like walking into a dark room and switching on the light — everything came into view,” Dr. Han said.

These are truly unwasted-grace gossamer beauties, interleaved, and interlaced -- on a scale of hundreds of light years across, in all dimensions. Wow.

See the full 41 second NASA animation, below:



Now you know -- with a three day stint in Music City, only a week out, now [what wonders will that. . . reveal? We shall see.]. . . smile.

नमस्ते