NASA's James Webb Space Telescope took another beautiful image of the universe - this time, the result looks a bit like something we're very familiar with on Earth.
In a press release, NASA noted that the telescope's latest stunning image—which shows an binary star system called Wolf Layette 140, 5,000 light-years away from Earth—similar to human fingerprints, its concentric stardust ring is formed by light emitted by two stars. "When two stars approach, their stellar winds (the stream of gas they blow into space) meet, compressing the gas and forming dust, forming each ring," the agency's press release reads. "The orbits of these stars bring them together every 8 years; like the growth of tree trunk rings, the dust circle marks the passage of time."
This amazing image is also the subject of a new study published in the journal Nature Astronomy. As Ryan Lau (Liu), an astronomer and lead author of National Science Foundation , points out, this is a fascinating history.
We are studying the dust that has been produced in this system for more than a century,” Liu said in a NASA press release.
“This photo also illustrates how sensitive this telescope is,” Liu explained. “Previously, we could only see two dust rings using ground telescopes. Now we have seen at least 17. "
Unlike other stars, Wolf-Laye Star releases a unique dust cloud when mass is released - composed of hydrogen, carbon and other elements.
"The heavy elements in the wind cool when they enter space and then are compressed where the wind from the two stars meets," NASA's press release notes, "like kneading dough with two hands." "
This photo taken by James Webber captures the process of stardust moving outward from its star system , which is a characteristic of Wolf-Laye Star—it is a beautiful process and the basis for star formation.
As NASA points out, it may even provide clues to the formation of our own sun.
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