James Webb Space Telescope Reveals Never-Before-Seen Details in Cassiopeia A
by Eric Glaser
Title
James Webb Space Telescope Reveals Never-Before-Seen Details in Cassiopeia A
Artist
Eric Glaser
Medium
Photograph - Digital Photography
Description
"Cassiopeia A (MIRI Image)"
Webb Reveals Never-Before-Seen Details in Cassiopeia A
Release Date: April 7, 2023
Stars: always making a dramatic exit!
Webb’s powerful infrared eye has captured never-before-seen detail of Cassiopeia A (Cas A), the remnant of a massive star that exploded about 340 years ago - from our perspective here on Earth. (Despite being 11,000 light-years away, this supernova may have been visible to the naked eye when it took place, something that has not been seen in our galaxy since.)
Let’s dissect the image: The left side of the image (shown in orange) marks where ejected material from the exploded star is ramming into surrounding gas and dust. Within that outer shell is material from the star itself, including elements like oxygen, argon and neon. What’s that green loop on the right? Scientists are still puzzling out its unexpected shape and complexity.
As the youngest known remnant from an exploded, massive star in our galaxy, Cas A offers unique clues into a star’s death. By studying Cas A, Webb astronomers may also learn more about the origins and production of cosmic dust — which forms the elements we’re made of.
Learn more: go.nasa.gov/3zDsve8
Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, D. Milisavljevic (Purdue), T. Temim (Princeton), I. De Looze (Ghent University), with image processing by J. DePasquale (STScI)
Image description: A roughly square image is rotated clockwise about 45 degrees, with solid black in the corners. Within the image is a roughly circular nebula with complex structure. On the circle’s exterior, particularly at the top and left, lie curtains of material glowing orange. Interior to this outer shell lies a ring of mottled filaments of bright pink studded with clumps and knots. At center right, a greenish loop extends from the right side of the ring into the central cavity. Translucent wisps of blue, green and red are throughout the image.
Note: this image is presented in this orientation to match other telescope's images of this object for easier comparison.
Update: This image is presented full-frame here, having been rotated back.
More information:
Cassiopeia A (Cas A) is a supernova remnant located about 11,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cassiopeia. It spans approximately 10 light-years. This new image uses data from Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) to reveal Cas A in a new light.
On the remnant’s exterior, particularly at the top and left, lie curtains of material appearing orange and red due to emission from warm dust. This marks where ejected material from the exploded star is ramming into surrounding circumstellar material.
Interior to this outer shell lie mottled filaments of bright pink studded with clumps and knots. This represents material from the star itself, and likely shines due to a mix of various heavy elements and dust emission. The stellar material can also be seen as fainter wisps near the cavity’s interior.
A loop represented in green extends across the right side of the central cavity. Its shape and complexity are unexpected and challenging for scientists to understand.
This image combines various filters with the color red assigned to 25.5 microns (F2550W), orange-red to 21 microns (F2100W), orange to 18 microns (F1800W), yellow to 12.8 microns (F1280W), green to 11.3 microns (F1130W), cyan to 10 microns (F1000W), light blue to 7.7 microns (F770W), and blue to 5.6 microns (F560W). The data comes from general observer program 1947.
MIRI was contributed by NASA and ESA, with the instrument designed and built by a consortium of nationally funded European Institutes (the MIRI European Consortium) and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in partnership with the University of Arizona.
Additional image editing by Eric Glaser
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April 13th, 2023
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