Binary star system Apep: Could explode in a spectacular gamma-ray burst in Milky Way #space #shorts

Cosmic Serpent: Massive binary star system nicknamed Apep
Only one in a hundred million stars cuts to be classified as a Wolf-Rayet: ferociously bright and hot stars. Typically 25000 degrees or more.
Rarest of all, even among Wolf-Rayets, are elegant binary pairs that, if the conditions are right, can pump out huge amounts of carbon dust driven by their extreme stellar winds.
This star system, 8000 light years from Earth, was named Apep after the serpentine Egyptian god of chaos.
The two stars are each about 10 to 15 times more massive than the Sun.
And orbit each other about every 125 Years.
The dust in the Apep binary gets wrapped into a beautiful glowing tail.
But the dust spiral is expanding four times slower than the measured stellar winds, something unheard of in other systems.
The leading theory to explain this bizarre behavior makes Apep a strong contender for producing a gamma-ray burst when it does finally explode, something never before witnessed in the Milky Way.
Just a handful of these sculpted spiral plumes have ever been discovered.

Credits:

Zooming in on a Wolf–Rayet star in the remote NGP–190387 galaxy
European Southern Observatory (ESO)

Gamma-ray burst buried in dust (artist’s impression)
European Southern Observatory (ESO)

Neutron star merger animation ending with kilonova explosion
HubbleWebbESA