Among those rosy swaths, bursts of pink show where the star’s composite elements, including oxygen, argon and neon, are shining.įor the researchers, one of the most puzzling elements of the image is the large green loop on the image’s right side. Great curtains of material, shaded red and orange, represent where the star’s material is crashing into circumstellar gas and dust. In it, mid-infrared light has been translated into visible light, allowing scientists to analyze details and structures. The new image collected by JWST’s golden honeycomb of 18 mirrors shows incredible detail. Examining the structure using different wavelengths gives astronomers new insights into star anatomy, the same way infrared cameras give humans different information than cameras that see only in the visible light spectrum. An arrangement of five bright stars in a “W,” Cas A is invisible to human eyes from Earth but occupies the space that appears to be off to the right of the last stroke of the W.įor decades, scientists have studied Cas A. Located about 11,000 light-years away, the remnant is in the section of the sky considered to be of the constellation Cassiopeia. “By understanding the process of exploding stars, we are reading our own origin story,” Milisavljevic said. Stars create a variety of elements, and subsequent supernovae create additional elements – everything from the calcium in our bones to the iron in our blood – and spread them across interstellar space, seeding new generations of stars and planets. Supernovae like the one that formed Cas A are crucial for life. “Cas A represents our best opportunity to look at the debris field of an exploded star and run a kind of stellar autopsy to understand what type of star was there beforehand and how that star exploded,” Milisavljevic said. The light from its explosion first arrived at Earth 340 years ago. I am awestruck by their quality and beauty.”Ĭassiopeia A is the youngest known remnant from an exploding, massive star in our galaxy, which makes it a unique opportunity to learn more about how such supernovae occur. “And yet, I was still unprepared for the data that Webb has provided. I’ve used dozens of telescopes – both ground- and space-based – covering the electromagnetic spectrum from gamma rays to radio wavelengths,” Milisavljevic said. “I have spent 17 years studying stars and their titanic explosions. Danny Milisavljevic, assistant professor of physics and astronomy in Purdue University’s College of Science, studies supernova remnants and leads a year one research team on the JWST examining Cas A. To be able to see them in three-dimensional detail is very nearly divine.ĭivine vision is what the James Webb Space Telescope has granted earthbound scientists in a new near-infrared, detailed image of Cassiopeia A (Cas A), a stellar remnant – the clouds of gas, dust and other material left behind when a star dies. Purdue University astronomer leads international team that studies Cassiopeia A, the remnant of a supernova
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