The James Webb Space Telescope began studying one of the most famous supernovae: SN 1987A (Supernova 1987A), in which mysterious new structures are discovered.
Located 168,000 light-years away in the Large Magellanic Cloud, SN 1987A has been the subject of intense observations at wavelengths ranging from gamma-rays to radio for nearly 40 years since its discovery in February 1987. Europe Press.
New observations made by Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Cam) infrared camera) they provide a crucial clue to our understanding of how a supernova evolves over time and shapes its remnant.
This image reveals a central structure such as a keyhole. This center is filled with clumpy gases and dust ejected from the supernova explosion. The dust is so dense that not even the near-infrared light Webb detects can penetrate it, creating the dark “hole” in the keyhole.
A dazzling equatorial ring encircles the inner keyhole, forming a band around the waist that connects two wispy arms of hourglass-shaped outer rings.
The equatorial ring, formed from material ejected tens of thousands of years before the supernova explosion, contains bright hot spots., which appeared when the supernova’s shock wave hit the ring. Now spots are found even outside the ring, with diffuse emission around it. These are the locations of the supernova shocks that have impacted most of the foreign material.
Although these structures have been observed to varying degrees by NASA’s Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes and the Chandra X-ray ObservatoryWebb’s unparalleled sensitivity and spatial resolution revealed a new feature in this supernova remnant: small crescent-shaped structures, NASA reports.
These crescents are believed to be part of the outer layers of gas ejected by the supernova explosion. Its brightness may be indicative of extremity brightness, an optical phenomenon that results from viewing the expanding material in three dimensions. In other words, our viewing angle makes it look like there’s more material in these two crescents than there really is.
The high resolution of these images is also striking. Before Webb, the now-retired Spitzer Telescope spent its life observing this supernova in the infrared, providing important insights into how the emissions evolved over time. However, he has never been able to observe the supernova with such clarity and detail.
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Source: Eluniverso
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