Stunning Pinwheel Nebula Is a Cosmic Cataclysm in the MakingGeorge Dvorsky
Apep, the first Wolf-Rayet star system to be discovered in the Milky Way.
Image: ESO/Callingham et al.This image of a dusty, gas-rich nebula looks pretty, but appearances can be deceiving. Known as a Wolf-Rayet star system, it’s poised to unleash a catastrophic gamma-ray burst when it finally goes supernova. What’s remarkable about this particular Wolf-Rayet system, however, is that it’s the first to be discovered in our own galaxy. Cue the ominous music...
This Wolf-Rayet star system is formally known as 2XMM J160050.7-514245, but to the researchers who recently investigated this enigmatic object, it’s simply “Apep”—an exotic object named for the serpentine ancient Egyptian god of chaos. In a press release, Joseph Callingham, the lead author of the new study and an astronomer at the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON), said “it’s the first such system to be discovered in our own galaxy”—a system he never expected to find “in our own backyard.” The details of this research were published today in Nature Astronomy.
Indeed, astronomers have observed Wolf-Rayet stars before, but only in other galaxies. These massive star systems are on the verge of entering into their death throes, at which time they’ll generate a type of supernova that emits an extremely powerful and narrow jet of plasma—the dreaded gamma-ray burst.
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