Massive, Hot Wolf-Rayet Star WR 112 of Sagittarius (Infrared) | Webb Telescope
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WR 112 is located in the constellation of Sagittarius—the half-man/half-horse archer. It is a main sequence Wolf-Rayet star, known for extreme luminosity and rapid stellar winds. WR 112 is on the Ecliptic, the path that the Earth takes as it orbits the Sun.
Wolf–Rayet stars, often abbreviated as WR stars, are a rare heterogeneous set of stars with unusual spectra showing prominent broad emission lines of ionized helium and highly ionized nitrogen or carbon. The spectra indicate very high surface enhancement of heavy elements, depletion of hydrogen, and strong stellar winds. The surface temperatures of known Wolf–Rayet stars range from 20,000 K to around 210,000 K, hotter than almost all other kinds of stars.
Sagittarius is one of the constellations of the zodiac and is located in the Southern celestial hemisphere. It is one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy and remains one of the 88 modern constellations. Its old astronomical symbol is (♐︎). Its name is Latin for "archer". Sagittarius is commonly represented as a centaur drawing a bow. It lies between Scorpius and Ophiuchus to the west and Capricornus and Microscopium to the east.
The center of the Milky Way lies in the westernmost part of Sagittarius.
Image Processor Judy Schmidt: "Another in a series of James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) images of Wolf-Rayet stars that have intricate and fascinating dust shells around them. There's a very strong set of diffraction spikes (the blueish multi-colored rays emanating from the center star) in every filter this time. I tried to make them less distracting by both desaturating and dimming them. I think it looks a bit better like this, but it may also look somewhat unnatural or overprocessed."
Release Date: August 1, 2025
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