NASA's James Webb Space Telescope The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has captured images of one of the oldest supernovas ever seen, with features appearing like the grains and knots found in a piece of wood.
“Once, the core of a massive star collapsed, creating a shock wave that exploded outward, tearing the star apart as it moved,” NASA said on its website. “When the shock wave reached the surface of the star, it penetrated it, generating a short, intense pulse of X-rays and ultraviolet radiation that traveled outward into the surrounding space.”
Now, nearly 350 years later, scientists are getting a view of what comes next when a pulse of light reaches interstellar material and causes it to glow.
The resulting infrared glow was captured by the James Webb Space Telescope, revealing knot- and flower-like details found in the wood grain.
The powerful Webb telescope is capturing images of the most distant galaxies known, scientists say
This background image of the region surrounding the Cassiopeia A supernova remnant was released by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope in 2008. By taking multiple images of this region over three years with Spitzer, researchers were able to examine a number of light echoes. Now, NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has imaged some of these light echoes in much greater detail. The figure on the bottom right shows one epoch of Webb's observations, while the figure on the left shows a Webb image of the central supernova remnant released in 2023. (Spitzer image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Y.Kim (University of Arizona/University of Chicago). Cassiopeia A Inset: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Danny Milisavljevic (Purdue University), Ilse De Looze (UGent), T. Tamim ( Princeton University). Light echoes included: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, J. Jencson (California Institute of Technology/IPAC).)
“Even when a star dies, its light remains –It resonates across the universe. It's been an extraordinary three years since we launched NASA's James Webb Space Telescope. Every image, every discovery, shows not only the grandeur of the universe, but the power of the NASA team and the promise of international partnerships. “This pioneering mission, NASA’s largest international collaboration in space science, is a true testament to NASA’s ingenuity, teamwork, and pursuit of excellence,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. The dedication of thousands of scientists and engineers around the world. This final image beautifully captures Webb's enduring legacy – a keyhole into the past and a mission that will inspire generations to come.
Although these observations are inherently beautiful, they also give astronomers the ability to map the three-dimensional structure of interstellar dust and gas for the first time.
“We were very shocked to see this level of detail,” said Jacob Jenson of the California Institute of Technology/IPAC in Pasadena, the science program's principal investigator.
Josh Peck of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore is also a member of the team and said they see layers like the layers of an onion.
The powerful Webb Telescope spies a stunning star birth cluster outside the Milky Way
These shimmering cosmic curtains show interstellar gas and dust heated by the lightbulb explosion of a long-ago supernova. (NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, J. Jenson (California Institute of Technology/IPAC))
“We believe that every dense, dusty area we see, and most of the areas we don't see, looks like this from the inside,” he said. “We've never been able to look inside them before.”
NASA said images captured from the JWST's near-infrared camera (NIRCam) highlight a phenomenon called light echo, which occurs when a star explodes or explodes before shining light on surrounding dust clumps and causing them to shine.
Visible light echoes occur when light reflects off interstellar material, while echoes at infrared wavelengths occur when dust is heated by energetic radiation, causing it to glow.
The scientists targeted a light echo that had previously been observed by a NASA retiree Spitzer Space TelescopeIt is one of dozens that have been found near the Cassiopeia A supernova remnant.
FILE – In this April 13, 2017 photo provided by NASA, technicians lift the mirror of the James Webb Space Telescope using a crane at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. (Laura Betz/NASA via AP, File)
Webb's images show tightly packed sheets, with filaments displaying structures on what NASA called “remarkably small scales,” of about 400 astronomical units, or less than a hundredth of a light-year. One astronomical unit is the average distance between the Earth and the Sun, and the diameter of Neptune's orbit is 60 astronomical units.
“We didn't know that the interstellar medium had structures this small, let alone that it looked like a sheet of paper,” Beck said.
Scientists have compared this discovery to medical CT scans.
“We have three slices taken at three different times, which will allow us to study true 3D structure. It will completely change the way we study the interstellar medium,” Armin Rist of the Space Telescope Science Institute, and a member of the team, said.
The team's findings will be presented this week at the 245th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Washington, DC
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The Webb Telescope, the successor to Hubble and the largest telescope ever launched into space, is a joint project between NASA and the European Space Agency.
