NASA’s Webb Telescope captured a star shortly before it exploded and became a supernova | A phenomenon 15 thousand light-years away

space telescope James WebbAn international joint project a potEuropean Space Agency (that) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), his first record and Amazing Photos Before one of the most massive and brightest stars in the universe, the 124May become Supernova.

Observations of this “extraordinary” phase were made in June last year, when with their instruments to see Infrared The telescope discovered the phenomenon that occurred in “unprecedented detail” 15 thousand light yearsIn the constellation Sagittariusas reported by NASA.

A supernova is an explosion of a star that in the previous moments released a huge amount of energy, as a result of which its brightness increases significantly. the WR124which 30 times the mass of the Sunalready separated matter equivalent to 10 suns from its outer layers.

As the ejected gas moves away from the star and cools, it forms cosmic dust Which is exactly what Webb’s infrared light shines. The detailed image of WR 124 obtained by Webb forever preserves A A brief, turbulent moment of transformationAnd it promises future discoveries that will reveal secrets of cosmic dust that have been hidden for a long time, NASA said about these luminous halos.

web He will solve the mysteries of our system Solar, you’ll see beyond the distant worlds around other stars and explore the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it.”

How Webb Works and Why Cosmic Dust Matters

NASA’s new telescope uses a near infrared camera (nirkam, for its acronym in English) that what it does is balance the brightness of the star’s core and dim the nodal details in the surrounding gas. Besides, him Infrared mid tool (Merryfor its acronym in English) reveals the lumpy structure of a nebula of gas and dust from the ejected material that now surrounds the star.

Meanwhile, Webb opens up “new possibilities” to investigate cosmic dustsomething astronomers have not yet had enough detailed information in environments like WR 124.

With the discovery that these images allowed, it became known that Dust can survive a supernova explosion And it adds up to the total “dust budget” of the universe. In outer space there is such a quantity of this cosmic matter that no theory can confirm exactly yet. “The universe is running on a dust budget surplus,” NASA said.

It’s not a simple thing, since dust is fundamental to the way the universe works: houses stars form, forms planets, and serves as a platform for molecules to form and clump together, among other things.

Meanwhile, observing stars like WR 124 turning into supernovae allows astronomers to understand more about the early history of the universe.

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