James Webb Space Telescope Feed Post

WR 124 for Chandra's 25th Anniversary (Chandra/Webb/Hersche/Spitzer/WISE composite)

WR 124 is a rare type of Wolf-Rayet star, a bright, massive star experiencing a short-lived phase in its evolution. A dense wind from the star may prevent the detection with Chandra of a neutron star companion. X-rays from Chandra (purple); infrared from Herschel, Spitzer, WISE (blue) and Webb (red, green, and blue) Read more about Chandra's 25th anniversary: chandra.cfa.harvard.edu/photo/2024/25th/ Image Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Infrared: (Herschel) ESA/NASA/Caltech, (Spitzer) NASA/JPL/Caltech, (WISE) NASA/JPL/Caltech; Infrared: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI/Webb ERO Production Team; Image processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Major Visual Description: In this composite image, a bright, massive star, WR 124, gleams with diffraction spikes, surrounded by a churning wind cloud in reds and purples. With its dusty rose coloring, and the bright, gleaming star at its core, the wind cloud resembles the inside of a delicate flower with opening petals. Dozens of other bright stars surround WR 124, including white dots rimmed with neon purple, and gleaming white dots with cool blue diffraction spikes. The purple dots are stars detected with Chandra. Image & Description by NASA