Rare Prelude to Supernova (MIRI Image)

This rare sight is a super-bright, massive Wolf-Rayet star, a prelude to the supernova that will follow. This phase is a fleeting stage that only some stars go through soon before they explode. The star, Wolf-Rayet 124, is located 15,000 light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius. It is 30 times the mass of the Sun and has shed 10 Suns worth of material so far. As the ejected gas moves away from the star and cools, cosmic dust forms and glows in the infrared light detectable by the Webb Telescope. The origin of cosmic dust that can survive a supernova blast is of great interest to astronomers for multiple reasons. Dust shelters forming stars, gathers together to help form planets, and serves as a platform for molecules to form and clump together, including the building blocks of life on Earth.