The image of remnant of supernova as captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. | NASA
Trust NASA to mesmerise us with great pics every now and then. With its lenses (both, earthbound and in space) pointed at the sky, its no wonder that the space agency continues to wow us with celestial wonders. NASA has now posted a new image that’s creating waves. The image is clicked by James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).
For an untrained eye, the image can only seem like a few streaks of colours here and there. But those in the know have clear idea about what this is.
The image, is of Cassiopeia A. It is remnant of a supernova.
A supernova literally means explosion of a star in space.
“Once upon a time, the core of a massive star collapsed, creating a shockwave that blasted outward, ripping the star apart as it went. When the shockwave reached the star’s surface, it punched through, generating a brief, intense pulse of X-rays and ultraviolet light that traveled outward into the surrounding space. About 350 years later, that pulse of light has reached interstellar material, illuminating it, warming it, and causing it to glow in infrared light,” said NASA on its website.
Good thing about JWST is, in addition to visible light, it can also click pics infrared light. This is something Hubble Space Telescope lacked. It is because of this capability that JWST has been able to capture the remnants of supernova in its fine details.
“We were pretty shocked to see this level of detail,” said Jacob Jencson of Caltech/IPAC in Pasadena as quoted by NASA.
Jencson was the principal investigator of the science program.
“We see layers like an onion,” said Josh Peek, member of the science team as qupted by NASA.
