The recent JWST sighting presents the huge red supergiant (located within the designated area) just prior to its explosive end.(Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Charles Kilpatrick (Northwestern), Aswin Suresh (Northwestern))
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has detected a concealed “ill-fated” star which may assist in resolving a significant astrophysical enigma.
The star is an immense red supergiant, captured by JWST right before it detonated in a blazing supernova. In theory, massive red supergiants should trigger the majority of supernovas, but they are infrequently witnessed. The most recent JWST observation, detailed in a novel research piece issued Wednesday (Oct. 8) within The Astrophysical Journal Letters, reinforces the concept that these giants are frequently shadowed by formations of particulate matter.
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Stars with dimensions mirroring our sun expand toward the culmination of their existence to evolve into red giants prior to undergoing a supernova event. Red supergiants represent bulky stars nearing their destruction, commonly gauged at hundreds or thousands of multiples of our sun’s measurement.
The All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae initially pinpointed the supernova stemming from the newly depicted supergiant during June. The supernova, formally titled SN 2025pht, originated from a galaxy recognized as NGC 1637, positioned 38 million light-years distant from our planet — relatively proximate on a cosmic scale. The authors responsible for the novel study pinpointed the supergiant’s progenitor star by contrasting past Hubble Space Telescope archival information with fresh JWST imagery of NGC 1637 obtained both prior to and following the occurrence.
Researchers combined observations from JWST and Hubble to make this image of spiral galaxy NGC 1637, with additional images of the massive red supergiant before and after it went supernova. RELATED STORIES
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Researchers such as Kilpatrick have posited that the most sizable aging stars could also exhibit the greatest amounts of dustiness, resulting in the obstruction of their emitted light. This potential rationale corresponds with the recent JWST finding. The star radiated approximately 100,000 instances greater luminosity than our sun, yet the research team estimated that the dust surrounding it was dense enough to diminish the light’s intensity by a factor surpassing 100, as mentioned in the declaration.
The particulate matter also showed heightened capability in blocking shorter blue wavelengths of light. Luckily, JWST’s impressive infrared sensitivity permitted the observation of the extended red wavelengths, which offered an exceptionally detailed vision of a supergiant bordering on a supernova episode.
“SN2025pht is remarkable due to its notably redder appearance relative to practically all other red supergiants observed detonating as supernovas,” Kilpatrick expressed. “This suggests that prior detonations might have exhibited considerably greater brilliance than initially assessed due to the absence of comparable infrared data excellence now procurable via JWST.”
TOPICSJames Webb Space TelescopeHubble Space Telescope
Patrick PesterSocial Links NavigationTrending News Writer
Patrick Pester is the trending news writer at Live Science. His work has appeared on other science websites, such as BBC Science Focus and Scientific American. Patrick retrained as a journalist after spending his early career working in zoos and wildlife conservation. He was awarded the Master’s Excellence Scholarship to study at Cardiff University where he completed a master’s degree in international journalism. He also has a second master’s degree in biodiversity, evolution and conservation in action from Middlesex University London. When he isn’t writing news, Patrick investigates the sale of human remains.
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