Around 350 years ago, a titanic supernova erupted into sight more than 11,000 light years away from Earth.
Cassiopeia A (Cas A) emerged when a star roughly 15 to 25 times larger than our sun exploded, emitting its insides in a brilliant burst of light.
For years, scientists have been studying the relatively youthful supernova for clues about the origins of our universe. Now, Nasa's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has captured one of the most detailed looks yet at the celestial body.
Thanks to its powerful near-infrared camera (NIRCam), Webb has revealed the previously unseen shell of material slamming into the gas shed by the star.
"With NIRCam's resolution, we can now see how the dying star absolutely shattered when it exploded, leaving filaments akin to tiny shards of glass behind," said research lead Danny Milisavljevic of Purdue University.
"It's really unbelievable after all these years studying Cas A to now resolve those details, which are providing us with transformational insight into how this star exploded."
CAS A is one of the most closely studied supernova remnants in the cosmos. Scientists have pieced together a clearer view of the stellar giant using ground- and space-based observatories including the Hubble Space Telescope.
However, Webb has given them an unprecedented peek at CAS A’s inner shell, which looks “like smoke from a campfire” in the latest image.
Because infrared light is invisible to our eyes, the astronomers added touches of colours to the different filters from NIRCam. Each shade represents a different activity occurring within Cas A, with the most noticeable being the bright pink and orange that make up its inner shell.
These could be remnants of the dead star including sulfur, oxygen, neon and argon that have interacted with nearby dust.
A new structure was also spotted in the image. At the bottom right of the photo is a large blob they’ve called Baby Cas A, because it looks like an offspring of the main supernova. This is a light echo, which occurs when light bounces off cosmic dust clouds.
Although it looks like it’s in close vicinity to its progenitor, Baby Cas A is located 170 light-years behind the supernova remnant.
