The image of a cataclysmic space explosion was captured by the James Webb Space Telescope

 By Science Desk

April 11, 2023

               Supernovae, or star explosions, are among the most dramatic events in space. Cassiopeia A, a remnant of one such explosion, has been photographed by the James Webb Space Telescope.

Cassiopeia A, also known as Cas A, is a stellar explosion that occurred 340 years ago. According to NASA, it is the galaxy's youngest known remnant of a massive supernova. Webb's mid-infrared image of a supernova remnant provides astronomers with insight into how such explosions occur.

"We see incredible detail that we haven't been able to access before compared to previous infrared images," said Tea Temim of Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey. Temim is a collaborator on the Webb programme, which captured the images.

Other telescopes and observatories, including NASA's Hubble Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory, have extensively studied Cas A. However, Webb's new mid-infrared images contain a wealth of new scientific information that scientists are only now beginning to unravel.

Cassiopeia A, cosmic dust origins, and us

Cas A, according to NASA, can help answer critical scientific questions about the origins of cosmic dust. This is significant because cosmic dust serves as the foundation for stars, planets, and, eventually, life.

Observations have revealed that cosmic dust pervades even the most primitive galaxies in the early universe. Cas A supernovae eject massive amounts of heavy elements into space. Because cosmic dust is composed of these heavy elements, it is difficult to explain its origins without attributing some of it to supernovae.

But there's a catch. Based on current observations of supernovae, it is not possible to explain the sheer amount of dust astronomers see in those early galaxies. Using the James Webb Space Telescope, scientists hope to gain insight into the dust content.

Temim claims that researchers can spatially resolve regions of supernovae such as Cas A to examine different gas compositions and determine what types of dust were formed in those regions.

Cas A and other such supernovae must be studied because they are critical to life as we know it. Supernovae spread elements like calcium, which we find in our bones, and iron, which we find in our blood, across interstellar space, providing the seeds for new stars and planets.

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