This cosmic spiral is coming out of its shell!
What you’re looking at here is Apep, a trio of stars with distinct shells of dust swirling around them. This image was taken by our James Webb Space Telescope, and is the crispest view we have of the star system to date.
Named for the Egyptian god of chaos, the stars in this system are anything but peaceful and tranquil. Two of the three stars are part of a rare class of massive, evolved, luminous stars. That pair creates the shells as they orbit each other, flinging out dust at up to 2,000 miles per second. The third star is a massive supergiant with a much wider orbit, and the shock of its solar wind slices holes in these shells.
Before now, scientists had only been able to see one shell around Apep, despite hypothesizing the presence of more. But with the help of Webb’s keen eye, we have confirmed that Apep is layered like a cosmic onion, with four distinct shells now visible.
Learn more about Apep and see an animated visualization of the shells here.
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