James Webb Space Telescope Discovers Its First Supernova

The James Webb Space Telescope recently imaged the most distant galaxy ever imaged. Now, the first supernova discovery in the vehicle’s history may have occurred.

Researchers think he witnessed a supernova using Webb’s equipment called NIRCam. The structure, seen as a bright object in the data collected by Hubble, the telescope before Webb, is thought to be a recently exploded star.

A first for James Webb

Supernovas occur when giant stars reach the end of their lives. Billions of years from now, as will happen to our Sun, when the fuel of the star runs out, the material within it is thrown into space with a big explosion. This explosion is so bright that it can even be seen from other galaxies.

The James Webb Space Telescope was able to observe a similar flare in the galaxy SDSS.J141930.11+5251593. The telescope observed this galaxy twice, 5 days apart. In the second observation, it was seen that the glow was at a much lower level. In other words, the glow in this region began to fade over time.

Mike Engesser, one of the researchers, stated that for now, they need to examine more data to be precise, but if they talk according to the data they have, this structure is a very serious supernova candidate.

James Webb, on the other hand, was not designed to detect supernovae. Still, researchers are working to evaluate all the incoming data. It is not easy to find a supernova among them. Because this gigantic cosmic fireworks show takes place in a very short time, so it is necessary to look at the right place at the right time.