Space Carbon Treasure: Star Sheds Dust of Three Moons Annually, Fuels New Planets

• Yale student Donglin Wu's research reveals massive stars shed tiny dust particles in their final stages, forming future planets and life.
• Using JWST and ALMA data, Wu proved a quintillion-to-one difference between massive stars and their released dust particles.
• The study focused on the WR 112 binary star system, where colliding stellar winds create dust, crucial for new element circulation.
• Dust particles are mostly nanometer-sized, explaining why ALMA couldn't detect them despite JWST showing bright halos.
• WR 112 produces dust equivalent to three moons annually, providing microscopic carbon building blocks for new stars and planets.