The space agency Tuesday released images of the star in transition, which were captured in "unprecedented detail."

Wolf-Rayet 124 comes with "a distinctive halo of gas and dust that frames the star and glows in the infrared light detected by Webb, displaying knotty structure and a history of episodic ejections," NASA said in a statement.

The cosmic dust that is formed as gas is ejected away from the star, cooling along the way.

Referred to by scientists as a "dust budget," dust that survives a supernova explosion is important for astronomers as they attempt to get a better understanding of the celestial objects.

"Dust is integral to the workings of the universe," NASA said in a statement.

"It shelters forming stars, gathers together to help form planets, and serves as a platform for molecules to form and clump together -- including the building blocks of life on Earth. Despite the many essential roles that dust plays, there is still more dust in the universe than astronomers' current dust-formation theories can explain. The universe is operating with a dust budget surplus."

The cosmic dust is "composed of the heavy-element building blocks of the modern universe, including life on Earth."

Wolf-Rayet stars go through rapid expansion early in their lives.

They are some of the biggest and brightest stars in the sky, often expanding to a mass 20 times bigger than our sun.

Their decline is rapid, losing half their mass by the time they're 100,000 years old, culminating with a massive supernova explosion when they die.

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