In the binary system, stellar winds from one star crash into those from the other. The collision forms a so-called bow shock that pushes the material into interstellar space. Named for the crescent-shaped wave made by a ship moving through water, a bow shock is created in space when two streams of gas smash into one another.

At least one of the stars resembles short-lived stars from the early universe, which burned much more intensely and rapidly than later generation stars such as our sun.

The primordial quick burners likely unleashed vast quantities of heavy elements such as carbon, astronomers speculate.

"As a result, we might need to consider a relatively early epoch in the history of the universe," said Sergey Marchenko of Western Kentucky University, "when the necessary ingredients first became available in the interstellar medium to seed and form planetary systems."

In studying the dust stream from WR112, Marchenko and the team concluded that the carbon dust grains were dozens of times bigger than conventional theory had calculated.

"In addition, a significant portion of the dust appears to be escaping into interstellar space before it can be destroyed by the lethal radiation field emanating from the hit, massive stars of the binary system," Marchenko said in a statement.

The compression in the zone of the bow shock could have formed the comparatively big carbon particles, which stream out of the binary system in a spiral pattern.

The distinctive trail reflects an imbalance in the star system. As the stars orbit one another, the winds of the stronger partner bend the shock wave back around the weaker.

"This outflowing is much like the path that water takes as a playful gardener swings around a high pressure garden hose," said Anthony Moffat of the University of Montreal.

Marchenko, Moffat and colleagues used the Gemini Observatory in Hawaii to conduct their research. They published their findings in a recent edition of the Astrophysical Journal Letters.