{"id":60436,"date":"2024-06-16T08:45:00","date_gmt":"2024-06-16T08:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/02aa8dd2-aff8-4650-85b2-da0ccca63702"},"modified":"2024-06-16T09:39:47","modified_gmt":"2024-06-16T09:39:47","slug":"we-used-the-james-webb-space-telescope-to-solve-a-40-year-supernova-mystery-this-is-how-we-did-it","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/we-used-the-james-webb-space-telescope-to-solve-a-40-year-supernova-mystery-this-is-how-we-did-it\/","title":{"rendered":"“We used the James Webb Space Telescope to solve a 40-year supernova mystery. This is how we did it.”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Olivia Jones tells us how she used JWST to end the 40-year hunt for the heart of a supernova. <\/p>

By Olivia Jones\n <\/p>

Published: Sunday, 16 June 2024 at 08:45 AM<\/p>

\n\n

Being part of a team that discovers something new is always thrilling. Especially if you provide answers toa cosmic mystery that has persisted for almost 40 years.\u00a0<\/p>

My background is in infrared astronomy, observing cool objects throughout the Universe.<\/p>

I planned some of the early James Webb Space Telescope<\/a> observations before moving to Edinburgh to work with experts at the UK Astronomy Technology Centre, who were in charge of building JWST\u2019s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI).\u00a0<\/p>

I\u2019ve been having an absolute blast since JWST launched.<\/p>

See the <\/em><\/strong>James Webb Space Telescope image of SN 1987A<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>

The evolution of the supernova 1987A between 1994 and 2016, as captured by Hubble. Credit: NASA, P. Challis, R. Kirshner (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics) and B. Sugerman (STScI)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
One of its observations which I planned was of supernova 1987A (SN 1987A), the remnants of a supernova that exploded in a nearby galaxy in 1987.<\/p>
Even though it\u2019s 168,000 lightyears away, its explosion was visible to the human eye.<\/p>
The last time a supernova<\/a> this bright occurred was 400 years ago, before telescopes were invented!<\/p>
Due to its proximity, every great observatory has studied SN 1987A, and over the years it\u2019s provided huge amounts of data on how stars explode and die.<\/p>
Naturally it was one of the first things we wanted to look at with JWST, because one crucial mystery remained: what lies at the heart of SN 1987A?\u00a0<\/p>
$\"A$
A multi-wavelength view of Supernova 1987A, as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Atacama Large Millimeter\/submillimeter Array.Credit: NASA, ESA, and A. Angelich (NRAO\/AUI\/NSF); Hubble image: NASA, ESA, and R. Kirshner (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation) Chandra image: NASA\/CXC\/Penn State\/K. Frank et al.ALMA image: ALMA (ESO\/NAOJ\/NRAO) and R. Indebetouw (NRAO\/AUI\/NSF).<\/figcaption><\/figure>
SN 1987A and the neutron star mystery<\/strong><\/h2>
The mass of a star when it forms more or less determines its fate at the end of its life.<\/p>
A low-mass star like our Sun is expected to slowly lose its mass, exposing its core and creating a planetary nebula<\/a>.<\/p>
Meanwhile, a star greater than eight solar masses is expected to explode as a supernova, forming a black hole<\/a> or a neutron star<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>
Considering its size, astronomers expected to find a neutron star at the centre of SN 1987A.<\/p>
We looked and looked and, nearly 40 years later, no neutron star had been observed.<\/p>
The longer this went on, the more we started to think perhaps our theories about stellar deaths were flawed.<\/p>
Was our physics somehow wrong?\u00a0<\/p>
$\"Supernova$
Supernova 1987A, by the Chandra X-ray Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope. (Credit: Radio: ALMA (ESO\/NAOJ\/NRAO), P. Cigan and R. Indebetouw; NRAO\/AUI\/NSF, B. Saxton; X-ray: NASA\/CXC\/SAO\/PSU\/K. Frank et al.; Optical: NASA\/STScI)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Solving the mystery<\/strong><\/h2>
Spotting a neutron star directly in another galaxy is akin to finding a cosmic needle in a galactic haystack.<\/p>
They\u2019re very small, around 10km across, but incredibly dense \u2013 a teaspoonful is heavier than Mount Everest.<\/p>
You wouldn\u2019t normally go looking for a neutron star in the infrared as they\u2019re incredibly hot.<\/p>
Most are detected in X-ray, ultraviolet or optical light, though pulsars<\/a> can be found at radio wavelengths.<\/p>
But, in this case, infrared was just what we needed.<\/p>
There\u2019s a very thick dust shell surrounding it, so optical or ultraviolet light can\u2019t escape the centre of SN 1987A, it\u2019s only in the infrared<\/a> where you can peer through the dust.<\/p>
We can\u2019t directly see the object at the centre of SN 1987A, but what we can see is the impact it\u2019s having on its surrounding material.<\/p>
With JWST, we\u2019ve observed certain spectral lines that could only arise if there\u2019s a lot of energy being pumped into the surrounding gas.<\/p>
$\"James$
James Webb Space Telescope image of Supernova 1987A. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, M. Matsuura (Cardiff University), R. Arendt (NASA\u2019s Goddard Spaceflight Center & University of Maryland, Baltimore County), C. Fransson (Stockholm University), and J. Larsson (KTH Royal Institute of Technology). Image Processing: A. Pagan<\/figcaption><\/figure>
The only way to produce that amount of energy is a neutron star.<\/p>
Now we also suspect that SN 1987A wasn\u2019t just one star, it was two stars.<\/p>
With JWST, we\u2019re starting to observe its core in 3D and it looks a bit like a peanut.<\/p>
It\u2019s asymmetric, not just a sphere that\u2019s exploded outwards as you would expect if there had been a single star.<\/p>
The fact that our experiment design worked perfectly is absolutely wonderful. We\u2019ve finally found the holy grail of SN 1987A, the neutron star in the centre.<\/p>
And that\u2019s quite nice. It\u2019s reaffirming, the fact that we were right and we know how physics works.<\/p>
***This article appeared in the July 2024 issue of BBC Sky at Night Magazine<\/em><\/strong><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n***
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