Researchers reconstructed the scene, finding up to three unseen stellar companions that may have shaped the planetary nebula’s layers of gas and dust. Wait, how many stars were at this party? It’s likely there were up to five – but only two appear now! A research team recently began digging into We
, researchers were able to precisely pinpoint the mass of the central star before it created the nebula. A team of almost 70 researchers led by Orsola De Marco of Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, analyzed Webb’s 10 highly detailed exposures of this dying star to produce these results.
By carefully comparing the appearance and timing of these ejections in the data and simulations, De Marco and her team propose that this is more evidence of the presence of a star with a slightly wider orbit that “stirred the pot” of ejections. First, they focused on the aging star that cast off its layers and is still surrounded by a dusty red “cloak” of dust. Extensive research about these types of aging stars shows that dusty cloaks like these must take the form of dusty disks that orbit the star. A quick dive into the data revealed the disk. “This star is now smaller and hotter, but is surrounded by cool dust,” said Joel Kastner, another team member, from the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York.
First, it’s important to know that none of these illustrations are properly scaled, and three or as many as four of the stars would be too small and dim to appear in Webb’s image. Second, star 1 and star 2 are the only stars we see in the sixth and final panel above. The remaining “guests” will be known as stars 3, 4, and 5. They are all much less massive – in other words far smaller and dimmer – than stars 1 and 2.
In panel 4, we zoom out to see more of the scene. Ultraviolet light and a fast, spherical wind from the newly exposed ultra-hot core of star 1 is helping to carve out its previously ejected gas and dust, creating a bubble-like cavity. There is also a leftover disk of material from the previous interactions with star 3. Star 3 is no longer visible, but star 5 is now in view.
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