A team of researchers has unexpectedly captured images of an exploding Type 1a supernova in a spiral galaxy thanks to the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) data. Thanks to infrared measurements of NGC 1566, one of the brightest galaxies in our area of space, scientists were able to study the supernova, which resulted from the explosion of a carbon-oxygen white dwarf star. The study was published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Researchers found that supernova ejecta could still be seen in the infrared more than 200 days after the initial event—a feat that could not have been achieved by ground-based instruments. The near-infrared and mid-infrared cameras on the JWST were used to look at how the emissions from the isotope cobalt-56 (⁵⁶Co) change as it breaks down into iron-56 (⁵⁶Fe).

Michael Tucker, a co-author of the study and a fellow at the Center for Cosmology and AstroParticle Physics (CCAPP) at Ohio State University, says that figuring out how supernovas affect the distribution of iron elements in the universe could help us learn more about how the universe was made chemically. Researchers can look into the center of a nebula to see how chemical elements are released into the universe as a supernova explodes.

The study confirmed that in most circumstances, ejecta does not escape the confines of the explosion, which supports scientists’ assumptions about the cooling properties of supernova ejecta. Tucker said that the power of the JWST was unparalleled and that further access to different imaging filters could create more opportunities for understanding the universe beyond our galaxy.

References

• Chen, N. M., Tucker, M. A., Hoyer, N., Jha, S. W., Kwok, L. A., Leroy, A. K., Rosolowsky, E., Ashall, C., Anand, G., Bigiel, F., Boquien, M., Burns, C., Dale, D., DerKacy, J. M., Egorov, O. V., Galbany, L., Grasha, K., Hassani, H., Hoeflich, P., … Williams, T. G. (2023). Serendipitous Nebular-phase JWST Imaging of SN Ia SN 2021aefx: Testing the Confinement of 56Co Decay Energy. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 944(2), L28. https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/acb6d8
• NASA Science. (2019, July 2). NGC 1566: The Spanish Dancer Spiral Galaxy. NASA Science; NASA. https://science.nasa.gov/ngc-1566-spanish-dancer-spiral-galaxy
• Seyfert Galaxies. (1997). Science & Data Center for Astrophysics & Planetary Sciences; California Institute of Technology. https://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/Glossary/Essay_seyfert.html
• Woodall, T. (2023, February 28). Galactic explosion offers astrophysicists new insight into the cosmos. Ohio State News; Ohio State University. https://news.osu.edu/galactic-explosion-offers-astrophysicists-new-insight-into-the-cosmos/