In 1867, two astronomers working with the 40 cm Foucault telescope at the Paris observatory discovered three new stars in the constellation Cygnus.  These stars were showing emission bands along the spectrum where they were “supposed to be” showing absorption bands.  The astronomers were Charles Wolf and Georges Rayet, and they had found an enigma which they named Wolf-Rayet stars.

NASA/JPL Cal-Tech the Baby Boom Galaxy, known as a Wolf-Rayet Galaxy due to its massive activity

Now, very quickly; Wolf-Rayet stars are not a type of star so much as the evolutionary stage of a type of star.  Did that make sense?  The type of star likely to evolve into a Wolf-Rayet must have a mass in excess of 20 solar, stellar winds in speeds up to 2,000 km/s, and be very hot — surface temperatures in the neighborhood of 25,000 K to 50,000  K.  Wolf-Rayet stars have the potential to supernova to a black hole, releasing gamma ray bursts from their poles in the process.

Wolf-Rayet 104 diagram, Dr. Peter Tuthill, University of Sydney, School of Physics

That takes care of the background, now enter Wolf-Rayet 104.  Discovered in 1998, WR104 is a dynamic binary system about 8,000 ly from Earth.  As the Wolf-Rayet star spins around its class OB companion it releases matter into the interstellar medium, giving it one of its nicknames:  A smoking chimney.

NASA/Kepler Dr. Peter Tuthill, University of Sydney

WR104 is extremely luminous.  A side-by-side comparison of WR104 to Sol is about the same as a side-by-side comparison of Sol and Luna.

When you look at the Keck images of WR104, you are looking down on one of its poles watching matter get flung away into that spiral shape, like looking down on a water sprinkler.  That’s really cool, except for one small detail:  Wolf-Rayet stars tend to produce gamma ray bursts when they collapse down into black holes, and gamma ray bursts (GRB) are emitted from the poles.

Hmmmmm.

James Bond as portrayed by Pierce Brosnan

As you can imagine, a lot of astronomers are looking at WR104.  More intensive studies seem to indicate that we aren’t going to be “spot on”, but off as much as 16 degrees.  That helps, but those same studies are showing WR104 may be as close as 5,000 ly.

Hmmmmm.

Whatever happens, WR104 and its massive companion are going to supernova, and soon (astronomically speaking).  Were it to form a gamma ray burst when it happens, and were the Earth right in its sights, that’s the end of the story.  We’ve talked about GRBs before.

Now, if we’re NOT right on the bull’s eye but far enough away to stay safe, that would be some kind of cosmic event… and we would have front row seats.  Whichever, WR104 has all the mystery, suspense, and action of an “A-List” thriller.

Got that popcorn ready?