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Wolf-Rayet 140 (MIRI)

A bright white point of light is surrounded by ten to fifteen regularly spaced, hazy rings at its bottom, right, and upper right. The central point, where the stars are located, has a rough hexagon shape. The innermost ring is highlighted blueish white and is much brighter to the right. The outer rings fade from view to the upper left, with only a few close rings visible there. The central light seems to highlight the misshapen rings like a spotlight, with rays coming out diagonally from the upper left to lower right. One ray illuminates even more rings as it travels to the upper right.

Shells of cosmic dust created by the interaction of binary stars appear like tree rings around Wolf-Rayet 140. The remarkable regularity of the shells’ spacing indicates that they form like clockwork during the stars’ eight-year orbit cycle, when the two members of the binary make their closest approach to one another. In this image, blue, green, and red were assigned to Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) data at 7.7, 15, and 21 microns (F770W, F1500W, and F2100W filters, respectively).

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About the Object

  • R.A. Position
    R.A. PositionRight ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.
    20:20:27.98
  • Dec. Position
    Dec. PositionDeclination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.
    +43:51:16.28
  • Constellation
    ConstellationOne of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.
    Cygnus
  • Distance
    DistanceThe physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs.
    5,600 light-years
  • Dimensions
    DimensionsThe physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky.
    Image is about 2 arcmin across (about 3 light-years)

About the Data

  • Data Description
    Data DescriptionProposal: A description of the observations, their scientific justification, and the links to the data available in the science archive.
    Science Team: The astronomers who planned the observations and analyzed the data. "PI" refers to the Principal Investigator.

    This image was created from JWST data from proposal: 1349 (R. Lau)

  • Instrument
    InstrumentThe science instrument used to produce the data.
    JWST>MIRI
  • Exposure Dates
    Exposure DatesThe date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.
    27 Jul 2022
  • Filters
    FiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.
    F770W, F1500W, F2100W
  • Object Name
    Object NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
    WR 140
  • Object Description
    Object DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.
    Wolf-Rayet Star
  • Release Date
    October 12, 2022
  • Credit
    Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, NASA-JPL, Caltech

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A bright white point of light is surrounded by ten to fifteen regularly spaced, hazy rings at its bottom, right, and upper right. The central point, where the stars are located, has a rough hexagon shape. The innermost ring is highlighted blueish white and is much brighter to the right. The outer rings fade from view to the upper left, with only a few close rings visible there. The central light seems to highlight the misshapen rings like a spotlight, with rays coming out diagonally from the upper left to lower right. One ray illuminates even more rings as it travels to the upper right.
Color Info
Color InfoA brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented.

These images are a composite of separate exposures acquired by the James Webb Space Telescope using the MIRI instrument. Several filters were used to sample different infraraed wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic (grayscale) image associated with an individual filter. In this case, the assigned colors are: Red: F2100W Green: F1500W Blue: F770W

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Details

Last Updated
Aug 28, 2025
Contact
Media

Laura Betz
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
laura.e.betz@nasa.gov

Image Credit

NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, NASA-JPL, Caltech

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