Dramatic exit! James Webb captures image of cataclysmic star explosion

The James Webb Space Telescope recently captured one of the dramatic exits of stars in space, as they exploded to form supernovae.

The details of the Cassiopeia A, which was the remnant of one such explosion of stars, were clearly captured by the telescope.

Cassiopeia A, also known as Cas A, is one of the stellar explosions that took place happened 340 years ago.

As per NASA, Cas A is the youngest remnant ever found of a massive supernova present in a galaxy. The supernova remnant's mid-infrared image which was captured by Webb gives astronomers a view of how such explosions took place.

“Compared to previous infrared images, we see the incredible detail that we haven’t been able to access before,” stated Tea Temim who works at Princeton University, New Jersey.

Temim has been working as the Web programme's co-investigator and was involved in capturing the images. Cas A was widely studied in different observatories by other telescopes which included the Chandra X-ray Observatory and NASA’s Hubble Telescope.

However, the new mid-infrared images which were clicked by Webb hold a huge amount of new scientific information.

Cassiopeia A – the answer to the origin of life

NASA said that Cas A can help scientists find the origin of cosmic dust. This discovery is important because cosmic dust is the building of what becomes planets, stars and eventually, life.

It has been revealed in scientific observations that cosmic dust permeates even the young galaxies present in the early universe.

Supernovae like Cas A release huge amounts of heavy elements across space. These heavy elements make up cosmic dust and, therefore, it is difficult to explain the cosmic dust's origin without attributing it to some supernovae.

The problem that astronomers encounter is that they do not explain the amount of dust they see in the early galaxies on the basis of current observations of supernovae.

Scientists hope that they may get some clarity on the amount of dust present through Cas A which has been captured by the James Webb Space Telescope.

As per Temim, regions of supernovae like Cas A can be spatially resolved by the researchers to study the different gas compositions and understand the types of dust formed in those regions.

It is important to study Cas A and other similar supernovae to understand the origin of life. Elements like iron and calcium which are present in space are spread across interstellar space through supernovae, and provide the seeds for new planets and stars