WR124: Stellar Fireball
Explanation:
Some stars explode in slow motion. Rare, massive
Wolf-Rayet stars are so tumultuous and hot they are
disintegrating right before our telescopes.
Glowing gas globs each over 30 times more massive
than the Earth are being expelled by a violent
stellar wind.
Wolf-Rayet star
WR124, visible near the
image center,
is thus creating the surrounding nebula known as
M1-67. Why this star has been slowly
blowing itself apart over the past
10,000 years remains unclear.
WR124 is 15,000 light-years away towards the
constellation of
Sagitta.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
