Webb telescope spots a star on the brink of exploding

Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. So far, WR 124 has shed about 10 suns’ worth of material, creating the cool, glowing gas and cosmic dust seen in the image. Astronomers are trying to understand why there is more dust in the universe than their theories can explain, and tools like the Webb telescope could shed new light on this astronomical ingredient. Studying stars like WR 124 with Webb helps astronomers understand what happened in the early days of the universe, when dying stars exploded and released heavy elements that ended up on Earth and inside our own bodies. “At the end of a star’s life, they shed their outer layers out into the rest of the universe,” said Dr. Amber Straughn, astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and Deputy Project Scientist for the Webb telescope’s science communications, at the conference.