NASA's Webb Stuns With New High-Definition Look at Exploded Star
To: You, From: The Universe 🎁
This beautiful new image from Webb is a gift from a past star. In near-infrared light, supernova remnant Cassiopeia A (Cas A) resembles a shiny ornament.
With its powerful vision, Webb can detect the tiniest knots of sulfur, oxygen, argon and neon gas from the star. Embedded in the gas are dust and molecules that will eventually become part of new stars and planets.
See that blob in the bottom right? Scientists have nicknamed it Baby Cas A since it looks like a tiny version of Cas A itself. Baby Cas A is a light echo: Light from the supernova has reached and is warming the distant dust in this blob. Although Baby Cas A appears very close to Cas A, it’s actually about 170 light-years behind the supernova remnant.
Since its launch nearly two years ago, Webb has consistently awed us with its wondrous views of the universe. We’re looking forward to a new year of stunning science and imagery to come.
Read more:
Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, D. Milisavljevic (Purdue University), T. Temim (Princeton University), I. De Looze (Ghent University)
This image: go.nasa.gov/47OjZZ7
This image highlights several interesting features of supernova remnant Cassiopeia A as seen with Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera):
1. NIRCam’s exquisite resolution is able to detect tiny knots of gas, comprised of sulfur, oxygen, argon, and neon from the star itself. Some filaments of debris are too tiny to be resolved even by Webb, meaning they are comparable to or less than 10 billion miles across (around 100 astronomical units). Researchers say this represents how the star shattered like glass when it exploded.
2. Circular holes visible in the MIRI image within the Green Monster, a loop of green light in Cas A’s inner cavity, are faintly outlined in white and purple emission in the NIRCam image—this represents ionized gas. Researchers believe this is due to the supernova debris pushing through and sculpting gas left behind by the star before it exploded.
3. This is one of a few light echoes visible in NIRCam’s image of Cas A. A light echo occurs when light from the star’s long-ago explosion has reached, and is warming, distant dust, which is glowing as it cools down.
4. NIRCam captured a particularly intricate and large light echo, nicknamed Baby Cas A by researchers. It is actually located about 170 light-years behind the supernova remnant.
Image description: The image is split into 5 boxes. A large image at the left-hand side takes up most of the image. There are four images along the right-hand side in a column, labeled 1, 2, 3, and 4. The 4 images in the column are zoomed-in areas of the larger square image on the left. The image on the left has a circular-shaped cloud of gas and dust with complex structure, with an inner shell of bright pink and orange filaments that look like tiny pieces of shattered glass. A zoom-in of this material appears in the box labeled 1. Around the exterior of the inner shell in the main image there are wispy curtains of gas that look like campfire smoke. Within the cavity of the inner shell, there are small circular bubbles outlined in white. Box 2 is a zoom-in on these circles. Scattered outside the nebula in the main image, there are also clumps of yellow dust. Boxes 3 and 4 are zoomed-in areas of these clumps. Box 4 highlights a particularly large clump at the bottom right of the main image that is detailed and striated.
NASA's Webb Stuns With New High-Definition Look at Exploded Star
To: You, From: The Universe 🎁
This beautiful new image from Webb is a gift from a past star. In near-infrared light, supernova remnant Cassiopeia A (Cas A) resembles a shiny ornament.
With its powerful vision, Webb can detect the tiniest knots of sulfur, oxygen, argon and neon gas from the star. Embedded in the gas are dust and molecules that will eventually become part of new stars and planets.
See that blob in the bottom right? Scientists have nicknamed it Baby Cas A since it looks like a tiny version of Cas A itself. Baby Cas A is a light echo: Light from the supernova has reached and is warming the distant dust in this blob. Although Baby Cas A appears very close to Cas A, it’s actually about 170 light-years behind the supernova remnant.
Since its launch nearly two years ago, Webb has consistently awed us with its wondrous views of the universe. We’re looking forward to a new year of stunning science and imagery to come.
Read more:
Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, D. Milisavljevic (Purdue University), T. Temim (Princeton University), I. De Looze (Ghent University)
This image: go.nasa.gov/47OjZZ7
This image highlights several interesting features of supernova remnant Cassiopeia A as seen with Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera):
1. NIRCam’s exquisite resolution is able to detect tiny knots of gas, comprised of sulfur, oxygen, argon, and neon from the star itself. Some filaments of debris are too tiny to be resolved even by Webb, meaning they are comparable to or less than 10 billion miles across (around 100 astronomical units). Researchers say this represents how the star shattered like glass when it exploded.
2. Circular holes visible in the MIRI image within the Green Monster, a loop of green light in Cas A’s inner cavity, are faintly outlined in white and purple emission in the NIRCam image—this represents ionized gas. Researchers believe this is due to the supernova debris pushing through and sculpting gas left behind by the star before it exploded.
3. This is one of a few light echoes visible in NIRCam’s image of Cas A. A light echo occurs when light from the star’s long-ago explosion has reached, and is warming, distant dust, which is glowing as it cools down.
4. NIRCam captured a particularly intricate and large light echo, nicknamed Baby Cas A by researchers. It is actually located about 170 light-years behind the supernova remnant.
Image description: The image is split into 5 boxes. A large image at the left-hand side takes up most of the image. There are four images along the right-hand side in a column, labeled 1, 2, 3, and 4. The 4 images in the column are zoomed-in areas of the larger square image on the left. The image on the left has a circular-shaped cloud of gas and dust with complex structure, with an inner shell of bright pink and orange filaments that look like tiny pieces of shattered glass. A zoom-in of this material appears in the box labeled 1. Around the exterior of the inner shell in the main image there are wispy curtains of gas that look like campfire smoke. Within the cavity of the inner shell, there are small circular bubbles outlined in white. Box 2 is a zoom-in on these circles. Scattered outside the nebula in the main image, there are also clumps of yellow dust. Boxes 3 and 4 are zoomed-in areas of these clumps. Box 4 highlights a particularly large clump at the bottom right of the main image that is detailed and striated.