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Interstellar gas and dust heated by a centuries-old supernova glow in infrared light detected by JWST. | Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Jacob Jencson (Caltech/IPAC)
The spaces between the stars in our galaxy are mysterious areas filled with huge, diffuse clouds of gas and dust. These clouds typically remain invisible – but the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) managed to capture one at a rare moment when it was illuminated.
The powerful infrared eyes of the James Webb Space Telescope peered into a dusty pocket of our galaxy about 11,000 light-years away in the constellation Cassiopeia and observed how light from a centuries-old supernova illuminated interstellar material, heating it and causing it to glow.
“This will completely change the way we think about the fundamentals of the cold interstellar medium,” Josh Peek, an astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Maryland, said Tuesday (Jan. 14) during the 245th American Astronomical Society told reporters (AAS) press conference in Maryland.
Remnants of the past supernova, the wreckage of the explosive death of a massive star, continue to fascinate astronomers striking beauty And scientifically packed complex structure. The collective supernova aftermath is known as Cassiopeia A. Less famous, however, is the brief but intense pulse of X-rays and ultraviolet light that the dying star pumped into space. The JWST observed the reflection of this light pulse as it bounced off the surrounding gas and dust as it traveled through the interstellar medium – a phenomenon known as a light echo.
“Even with the resolution of JWST, you can’t see this beautiful 3D structure of these clouds until the echo propagates through them,” said Jacob Jencson, a scientist at the California Institute of Technology, during the AAS press conference. Because the light echo is powered by supernova lightning, studying it can also allow astronomers to infer details about the star that exploded centuries ago, he explained.
The newly released and exquisite images, which scientists are calling the astronomical equivalent of medical CT scans, have revealed intricate, never-before-seen patterns in the interstellar medium. They include stunning snapshots of gas and dust that have turned into layers that themselves appear to host structures at incredibly small scales, as well as isolated “magnetic islands” that resemble knots in a wood grain.
“We believe that every dense, dusty region we see, and most of those we don’t, looks like this from the inside,” Peek said in one opinion. “We’ve just never had the opportunity to look inside them before.”
Scientists say these images will help them create a 3D map of these enigmatic structures, which will open up entirely new possibilities for studying the underlying physics of how such structures form and behave in the interstellar medium.
A panel-by-panel view of the region observed by JWST over time. | Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Jacob Jencson (Caltech/IPAC).
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Of particular interest to researchers are the magnetic nodes, which likely play a role in how gas emits its magnetic field – a crucial step in gas collapse and star formation, but one that is not yet fully understood.
“I studied that [interstellar medium] “It’s been a long time and, above all, confusing,” said Peek. “It was a shockingly quick journey from something you see coming straight out of the telescope to something that is incredibly powerful in a physics sense.”
