NASA Shares Dramatic Photo of Exploding Star

Now a year after it was first brought online, the Webb Space Telescope continues to capture stunning images of the furthest reaches of space. From examining its first exoplanet to updated snapshots of iconic locations across the cosmos, the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope has done it all. The latest image released by the observatory might be its most dramatic yet, capturing the remnants of a supernova in the Cassiopeia constellation.

First discovered in 1947, Cassiopeia A was a star that went through a supernova 340 years ago. The youngest such remnant observed by scientists yet, officials with the Webb mission hope it will teach more them about the years immediately after the death of a star.

Stars: always making a dramatic exit! 🌟

Webb’s powerful infrared eye has captured never-before-seen detail of Cassiopeia A (Cas A). 11,000 light-years away, it is the remnant of a massive star that exploded about 340 years ago: https://t.co/LLQsFQJwVQ pic.twitter.com/xqlGFzhYoy

— NASA Webb Telescope (@NASAWebb) April 7, 2023

"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," Purdue's Danny Milisavljevic, principal investigator of the Webb program that captured the observations, said in a NASA statement.

The image was captured using data obtained from Webb's Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), allowing officials to see the cosmic remnants in an all-new light, despite the dust floating some 11,000 light-years away.

What is the Webb Space Telescope?

In short, the Webb observatory is the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. Using its new technology, scientists have been able to examine parts of the known universe previously unobservable.

"If you think about that, this is farther than humanity has ever moved before," NASA administrator Bill Nelson previously said of the JWST. "And we're only beginning to understand what Webb can and will do. It's going to explore objects in the solar system and atmospheres of exoplanets orbiting other stars, giving us clues as to whether potentially their atmospheres are similar to our own."

"Our goals for Webb's first images and data are both to showcase the telescope's powerful instruments and to preview the science mission to come," astronomer Klaus Pontoppidan, Webb project scientist at STScI, added of the images. "They are sure to deliver a long-awaited 'wow' for astronomers and the public."

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