The James Webb Space Telescope captured images of the remains of a supernova star.
The star, called Cassiopeia A (Cas A), shines brightly about 11,000 light-years from Earth, making it look like an ornament more suitable for a Christmas tree.
NASA images show the star’s inner dust envelope, which looks like fire smoke and emits bright orange and red colors, but the Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) shows Cas A remnants reflecting the holiday spirit.
The Cas A image comes as part of a collaboration with the White House to “display the magic, wonder and joy” of the holiday season, NASA said in a press release.
To: You, From: The Universe 🎁
This stunning new Webb image is a gift from a past star. In near-infrared light, supernova remnant Cassiopeia A (Cas A) resembles a shiny ornament. Embedded within gas from the star are the materials for new stars & planets: pic.twitter.com/vzzaWrzPBA
— NASA Webb Telescope (@NASAWebb) December 11, 2023
The NIRCam image shows a more detailed view of Cas A, which gives off a visible purple color that resembles a diamond, but is actually an ionized gas.
Nobody puts baby in a corner.
Well…except “Baby Cas A.” So-called because it looks like a mini-Cas A, Baby Cas A is the blob in the bottom right corner. Light from the supernova has reached and is warming the distant dust within it, creating its intriguing dust pattern. pic.twitter.com/vVbZKpSLKJ
— NASA Webb Telescope (@NASAWebb) December 11, 2023
Cas A exploded about 340 years ago, leaving behind “filaments that look like tiny glass shards,” Danny Milisavljevic, of Purdue University, who led the research team, said in a NASA press release.
The team named Cas A the Green Monster because of the presence of a green ring running along the right side of the star’s central cavity.
This is the first time NASA has taken a high-resolution image of Cas A, which was “previously inaccessible at these wavelengths,” and shows details of the star’s expanding edges colliding with the gas it released before it exploded.
The discovery of Cas A showed the smallest known remnant of an exploding supernova star in our galaxy, and by monitoring the dust content, NASA said it could help astronomers understand how planets were created.
