2023-09-01 09:40:34
The iconic supernova SN 1987A, floating in the sky like a cosmic jellyfish, was captured by the James Webb Telescope, NASA announced on Thursday. This is the clearest and most detailed shot to date, revealing a new feature. Located 168,000 light-years away in the Large Magellanic Cloud, SN 1987A has been the target of intense observations at wavelengths ranging from gamma rays to radio for nearly 40 years, since its discovery in February 1987.
This image reveals a central structure like a keyhole. This center is filled with clumped gas and dust ejected by the supernova explosion. The dust is so dense that even near-infrared light detected by Webb cannot penetrate it, forming the dark “hole” in the keyhole.
Although these structures have been observed to varying degrees by NASA’s Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes and the Chandra X-ray observatory, Webb’s unparalleled sensitivity and spatial resolution revealed a new feature of this supernova remnant. : small crescent-shaped structures. These crescents are thought to be part of the outer layers of gas thrown up by the supernova explosion. Their brightness may be an indication of limb thinning, an optical phenomenon resulting from viewing the expanding material in three dimensions. In other words, our angle of view gives the impression that there is more matter in these two crescents than there really is.
NASA
The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s first space science observatory. Webb solves the mysteries of our solar system, looks beyond distant worlds around other stars, and probes the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and the Canadian Space Agency.
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