The Final Countdown: Image of Star About to Go Supernova Snapped by Space Telescope

The star seen in the image taken by the Webb Space Telescope appears to be at the stage preceding it going supernova.

A detailed image of a distant star about to meet its explosive demise had been captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and recently shared with the public.

The star in question, Wolf-Rayet 124 (WR 124), is located about 15,000 light-years away from Earth, in the constellation Sagitta.

The image, which was released by NASA at the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas, on March 14 shows the star approaching the stage where such celestial bodies go supernova, shedding off its outer layers and producing a spectacle that, when observed from far away, somewhat resembles a cherry blossom.

"We’ve never seen it like that before. It’s really exciting," Macarena Garcia Marin, a European Space Agency official involved in the project, said as quoted by media.

This observation was reportedly performed by the Webb Space Telescope shortly after its launch in 2021.

One media outlet also noted that the Hubble Space Telescope also took a picture of WR 124 a few decades ago, but the star in that image "appeared more like a fireball without the delicate details."