- 3953 - CASSIOPEIA - new supernovae discoveries? 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 in diameter.
------------ 3953 - CASSIOPEIA - new supernovae discoveries?
- The
explosion of a star is a dramatic event, but the remains the star leaves behind
can be even more dramatic. A new
mid-infrared image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope provides one stunning
example. It shows the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A (Cas A), created by a
stellar explosion 340 years ago from Earth’s perspective.
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- Cas A is
the youngest known remnant from an exploding, massive star in our galaxy. Cas A represents our best opportunity to
look at the debris field of an exploded star and run a kind of stellar autopsy
to understand what type of star was there beforehand and how that star
exploded.
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- Cas A is a
prototypical supernova remnant that has been widely studied by a number of
ground-based and space-based observatories, including NASA’s Chandra X-ray
Observatory. The multi-wavelength observations can be combined to provide
scientists with a more comprehensive understanding of the remnant.
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- The striking colors of the new Cas A image, in
which infrared light is translated into visible-light wavelengths, hold a
wealth of scientific information the team is just beginning to tease out.
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- On the
bubble’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 gas and dust.
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- Interior to
this outer shell lie mottled filaments of bright pink studded with clumps and
knots. This represents material from the star itself, which is shining due to a
mix of various heavy elements, such as oxygen, argon, and neon, as well as dust
emission.
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- Astronomers
are still trying to disentangle all these sources of emission. The stellar
material can also be seen as fainter wisps near the cavity’s interior. Perhaps most prominently, a loop represented
in green extends across the right side of the central cavity. The shape and complexity are unexpected and
challenging to understand.
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- Among the
science questions that Cas A may help answer is: Where does cosmic dust come
from? Observations have found that even very young galaxies in the early
universe are suffused with massive quantities of dust. It’s difficult to
explain the origins of this dust without invoking supernovae, which spew large
quantities of heavy elements, the building blocks of dust across space.
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- Existing
observations of supernovae have been unable to conclusively explain the amount
of dust we see in those early galaxies. By studying Cas A with Webb,
astronomers hope to gain a better understanding of its dust content, which can
help inform our understanding of where the building blocks of planets and
ourselves are created.
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- Supernovae
like the one that formed Cas A are crucial for life as we know it. They spread
elements like the calcium we find in our bones and the iron in our blood across
interstellar space, seeding new generations of stars and planets.
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- By
understanding the process of exploding stars, we’re reading our own origin
story.
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April 10, 2023 CASSIOPEIA
- new supernovae discoveries? 3953
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--- Monday, April 10, 2023 ---------------------------
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