A NASA released the image on Tuesday at the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas.
The observation was one of the first made by the Webb telescope after its launch in late 2021.
Its infrared ‘eyes’ observed all the gas and dust blasted into space by a huge hot star 15,000 light-years away. A light year is about 9.46 trillion kilometers.
Glowing purple, material expelled by the star once made up its outer layer.
Cosmic spring is in the air! The latest image from @NASAWebb features a blooming Wolf-Rayet star, 15,000 light-years away. This rare phase is as fleeting as the cherry blossom it resembles. Luckily, Webb can study its “petals” of dust in detail: #SXSW pic.twitter.com/sAOrZkX0Wl
— NASA (@NASA) March 14, 2023
The Hubble Space Telescope took a picture of the same transitioning star a few decades ago, although it looked more like a fireball without the fine detail.
The transformation occurs only with some stars and is usually the last step before they explode, becoming a supernova, according to scientists.
“We’ve never seen it like this before. It’s really exciting,” said Macarena Garcia Marin, a scientist at the European Space Agency who is part of the project.
This star in the constellation of Sagittarius, officially known as WR 124, is 30 times the mass of our sun and has already spewed out enough material equivalent to 10 suns, according to NASA.
The James Webb, the largest and most powerful telescope ever launched into space, is a $10 billion project and is named after a former NASA administrator, having been sent into space on Dec. European-made rocket. It is in orbit 1.5 million kilometers from Earth.
Astronomers hope with James Webb to obtain more data about the beginnings of the Universe, including the birth of the first galaxies and stars, but also about the formation of planets.
Also Read: James Webb Spotted a Younger Version of Our Galaxy
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