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APOD
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
Apep: Unusual Dust Shells from Webb
Explanation: What created this unusual space sculpture? Stars . This unusual system of swirls and shells, known as Apep , was observed in unprecedented detail by NASA ’s James Webb Space Telescope in infrared light in 2024. Observations indicate that the unusual shape originates from two massive Wolf-Rayet star s orbiting each other every 190 years with each close passes causing a new shell of dust and gas to be expelled . Holes in these shells are thought to be caused by a third orbiting star . This stellar dust dance will likely continue for hundreds of thousands of years, possibly ending only when one of the massive stars runs out of internal nuclear fuel and explodes in a supernova punctuated by a burst of gamma-rays .
Build your own star system: Astronomy Puzzle of the Day
| Date | November 24, 2025 |
|---|---|
| Credit | Image Credit: NASA , ESA , CSA , STScI , JWST ; Science: Y. Han ( Caltech ), R. White ( Macquarie U. ); Image Processing: A. Pagan ( STScI ) |
| Authors & editors: | Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP) |
| A service of: |
ASD at NASA / GSFC, NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U. |