Wolf-Rayet star with accretion disk, illustration. Disk of gas surrounding a massive, bright Wolf-Rayet star (centre). A close companion star (to lowe

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Wolf-Rayet star with accretion disk, illustration. Disk of gas surrounding a massive, bright Wolf-Rayet star (centre). A close companion star (to lower left) is pulling gas from the Wolf-Rayet star, shown by the bridge of bright material connecting the two stars. This exposes the massive star's hot, helium core. Some of the material is escaping into space, forming the huge disk surrounding the two stars. This disk structure had never been seen before around a Wolf-Rayet star. Image published in 2015.

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Size: 3500px × 2705px
Photo credit: © NASA/ESA/STScI, G. Bacon/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: -, 2015, accreting, accretion, artwork, astronomical, astronomy, astrophysical, astrophysics, binary, companion, disc, disk, illustration, interacting, interaction, loss, mass, massive, space, star, universe, wolf-rayet