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WR 124 (NIRCam and MIRI Composite Image)

A large, bright star shines from the center with smaller stars scattered throughout the image. A clumpy cloud of material surrounds the central star, with more material above and below than on the sides, in some places allowing background stars to peek through. The cloud material is yellow closer to the star, and turns purple at its outer edges.

The luminous, hot star Wolf-Rayet 124 (WR 124) is prominent at the center of the James Webb Space Telescope’s composite image combining near-infrared and mid-infrared wavelengths of light. The star displays the characteristic diffraction spikes of Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), caused by the physical structure of the telescope itself. NIRCam effectively balances the brightness of the star with the fainter gas and dust surrounding it, while Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) reveals the nebula’s structure. 

Background stars and background galaxies populate the field of view and peek through the nebula of gas and dust that has been ejected from the aging massive star to span 10 light-years across space. A history of the star’s past episodes of mass can be read in the nebula’s structure. Rather than smooth shells, the nebula is formed from random, asymmetric ejections. Bright clumps of gas and dust appear like tadpoles swimming toward the star, with tails streaming out behind them, blown back by the stellar wind. 

This image combines various filters from both Webb imaging instruments, with the color red assigned to wavelengths of 4.44, 4.7, 12.8, and 18 microns (F444W, F470N, F1280W, F1800W), green to 2.1, 3.35, and 11.3 microns (F210M, F335M, F1130W), and blue to 0.9, 1.5, and 7.7 microns (F090W, F150W, F770W).

About the Object

  • R.A. Position
    R.A. PositionRight ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.
    19:11:30.88
  • Dec. Position
    Dec. PositionDeclination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.
    +16:51:38.20
  • Constellation
    ConstellationOne of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.
    Sagitta
  • 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.
    15,000 light-years
  • Dimensions
    DimensionsThe physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky.
    Image is about 2.2 arcminutes across (10 lightyears)

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 with Webb data from proposal 2730. It is part of Webb Early Release Observations.

    The Early Release Observations and associated materials were developed, executed, and compiled by the ERO production team:

    Jaclyn Barrientes, Claire Blome, Hannah Braun, Matthew Brown, Margaret Carruthers, Dan Coe, Joseph DePasquale, Nestor Espinoza, Macarena Garcia Marin, Karl Gordon, Alaina Henry, Leah Hustak, Andi James, Ann Jenkins, Anton Koekemoer, Stephanie LaMassa, David Law, Alexandra Lockwood, Amaya Moro-Martin, Susan Mullally, Alyssa Pagan, Dani Player, Klaus Pontoppidan, Charles Proffitt, Christine Pulliam, Leah Ramsay, Swara Ravindranath, Neill Reid, Massimo Robberto, Elena Sabbi, Leonardo Ubeda. 

    The EROs were also made possible by the foundational efforts and support from the JWST instruments, STScI planning and scheduling, Data Management teams, and Office of Public Outreach.

  • Instrument
    InstrumentThe science instrument used to produce the data.
    NIRCam, MIRI
  • Exposure Dates
    Exposure DatesThe date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.
    2 June and 10 June 2022
  • Filters
    FiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.
    NIRCam> F090W, F150W, F210M, F335M, F444W, F470N MIRI> F770W; F1130W; F1280W; F1800
  • Object Name
    Object NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
    WR 124
  • Object Description
    Object DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.
    Wolf-Rayet Star
  • Release Date
    March 14, 2023
  • Science Release
    NASA’s Webb Telescope Captures Rarely Seen Prelude to Supernova
    Read the release
  • Credit
    Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Webb ERO Production Team

Downloads

  • Full Res (For Print), 4416 × 4349
    tif (26.75 MB)
  • Full Res (For Display), 4416 × 4349
    png (22.94 MB)
  • 2000 × 1970
    png (5.13 MB)
A large, bright star shines from the center with smaller stars scattered throughout the image. A clumpy cloud of material surrounds the central star, with more material above and below than on the sides, in some places allowing background stars to peek through. The cloud material is yellow closer to the star, and turns purple at its outer edges.
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 NIRCam and MIRI instruments. Several filters were used to sample narrow and broad 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:   Blue: F090W + F150W + F770W, Green: F210M + F335M+ F1130W, Red: F444W + F470N + F1280W + F1800W

Compass and Scale
Compass and ScaleAn astronomical image with a scale that shows how large an object is on the sky, a compass that shows how the object is oriented on the sky, and the filters with which the image was made.

Related Images & Videos

A large, bright star shines from the center with smaller stars scattered throughout the image. A clumpy cloud of material surrounds the central star, with more material above and below than on the sides, in some places allowing background stars to peek through. The cloud material is yellow closer to the star, and turns purple at its outer edges.

WR 124 (MIRI Image)

Wolf-Rayet stars are known to be efficient dust producers, and the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows this to great effect. Cooler cosmic dust glows at the longer mid-infrared wavelengths, displaying the structure of WR 124’s nebula. The 10...

At the bottom left are compass arrows indicating the orientation of the image on the sky. The north arrow points in the one o’clock direction. The east arrow points toward 10 o’clock. At the lower right is a scale bar labeled 2 light-years. The length of the scale bar is about one-fifth the total width of the image. Below the image is a color key showing which filters were used to create the image and which visible-light color is assigned to each filter. The top row lists the NIRCam filters, with F090W and F150W in blue text, F210M and F335M in green text, and F444W, F470N in red text. Below the MIRI filters are listed, with F770W in blue text, F1130W in green text, and F1280W and F1800W in red text. Link at end of caption leads to a full description of the image.

WR 124 (NIRCam and MIRI Compass Image)

This composite image of star WR 124 captured by the James Webb Space Telescope’s Near-Infrared Camera and Mid-Infrared Instrument includes arrows, scale bar, and color key for reference. The north and east compass arrows show the orientation of the image on the sky. Note that...

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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, Webb ERO Production Team

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