Using data from JWST's near-infrared and mid-infrared camera instruments to investigate the evolution of these emissions, researchers found that more than 200 days after the initial event, supernova ejecta was still visible at infrared wavelengths that would have been impossible to image from the ground. In this instance, the study specifically focused on how the isotope cobalt-56 decays into iron-56. Powered by a process called radioactive decay-wherein an unstable atom releases energy to become more stable-supernovas emit high-energy photons. "As a supernova explodes, it expands, and as it does so, we can essentially see different layers of the ejecta, which allows us to probe the nebula's core," he said. ![]() Understanding how these stellar reactions affect the distribution of iron elements around the cosmos could give researchers deeper insight into the chemical formation of the universe, said Tucker. By analyzing images taken of the supernova's core, Tucker and co-author Ness Mayker Chen, a graduate student in astronomy at Ohio State who led the study, aimed to investigate how certain chemical elements are emitted into the surrounding cosmos after an explosion.įor instance, light elements like hydrogen and helium were formed during the big bang, but heavier elements can be created only through the thermonuclear reactions that happen inside supernovas. The research was made possible thanks to the PHANGS-JWST Survey, which, due to its vast inventory of star cluster measurements, was used to create a reference dataset to study in nearby galaxies. "They also produce a huge chunk of the iron group elements in the universe, such as iron, cobalt and nickel." "White dwarf explosions are important to the field of cosmology, as astronomers often use them as indicators of distance," said Tucker. In this case, scientists were able to survey a Type 1a supernova-the explosion of a carbon-oxygen white dwarf star, which Michael Tucker, a fellow at the Center for Cosmology and AstroParticle Physics at The Ohio State University and a co-author of the study, said researchers caught by mere chance while studying NGC 1566. ![]() Located about 40 million light years away from Earth, the galaxy's extremely active center has led it to become especially popular with scientists aiming to learn more about how star-forming nebulae form and evolve. ![]() The study, published recently in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, provides new infrared measurements of one of the brightest galaxies in our cosmic neighborhood, NGC 1566, also known as the Spanish Dancer.
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