Supernova 2: Galactic Boogaloo
In 2016, Hubble saw a supernova named Requiem in a distant galaxy. Now Webb has found a second supernova named Encore — marking the first time two gravitationally lensed supernovae have been found in the same galaxy.
Let’s back up a bit. Gravitational lensing occurs when an object, such as a galaxy cluster, has such intense gravity that it warps surrounding time and space. Light follows that bend instead of traveling in a straight line, distorting and brightening what’s behind the object.
Not only does gravitational lensing warp and magnify distant galaxies, but it can also display multiple instances of the same object. Hubble’s 2016 image had three separate instances of supernova Requiem, while Webb’s new image has two instances of Encore.
This is because light from the supernovae ends up reaching Earth through several paths — like trains leaving the same station but taking different routes. While we saw three instances of Requiem in Hubble’s image, a fourth copy is expected to “reach its destination” and appear in 2035. By measuring differences in the times that the supernova images appear, astronomers can actually measure how fast the universe itself is expanding. Get the deep dive here: blogs.nasa.gov/webb/2023/12/21/supernova-encore-nasas-web...
This image:
Left: In 2016 NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope spotted a multiply imaged supernova, nicknamed Supernova Requiem, in a distant galaxy lensed by the intervening galaxy cluster MACS J0138. Three images of the supernova are visible, and a fourth image is expected to arrive in 2035. In this near-infrared image, light at 1.05 microns is represented in blue and 1.60 microns is orange. Credit: NASA, ESA, STScI, Steve A. Rodney (University of South Carolina) and Gabriel Brammer (Cosmic Dawn Center/Niels Bohr Institute/University of Copenhagen);
Right: In November 2023 NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope identified a second multiply imaged supernova in the same galaxy using its NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) instrument. This is the first known system to produce more than one multiply-imaged supernova. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Justin Pierel (STScI) and Andrew Newman (Carnegie Institution for Science).
Image description: A two-panel image shows the same galaxy grouping on the left and right. Two long, thin arcs curve partway around the grouping at about 3 o’clock and 6 o’clock. Light is most concentrated in two areas near the centers of the arcs. The arcs in the left panel appear yellowish. Three bright, orange-white dots located near the arcs are circled. The panel is labeled Hubble 2016. The arcs in the right panel appear orange. Two small, white dots in the lower arc are circled. The panel is labeled Webb 2023.
Tags: MACSJ 0138 supernova gravitational lensing jwst webb hubble james webb space telescope
Supernova 2: Galactic Boogaloo
In 2016, Hubble saw a supernova named Requiem in a distant galaxy. Now Webb has found a second supernova named Encore — marking the first time two gravitationally lensed supernovae have been found in the same galaxy.
Let’s back up a bit. Gravitational lensing occurs when an object, such as a galaxy cluster, has such intense gravity that it warps surrounding time and space. Light follows that bend instead of traveling in a straight line, distorting and brightening what’s behind the object.
Not only does gravitational lensing warp and magnify distant galaxies, but it can also display multiple instances of the same object. Hubble’s 2016 image had three separate instances of supernova Requiem, while Webb’s new image has two instances of Encore.
This is because light from the supernovae ends up reaching Earth through several paths — like trains leaving the same station but taking different routes. While we saw three instances of Requiem in Hubble’s image, a fourth copy is expected to “reach its destination” and appear in 2035. By measuring differences in the times that the supernova images appear, astronomers can actually measure how fast the universe itself is expanding. Get the deep dive here: blogs.nasa.gov/webb/2023/12/21/supernova-encore-nasas-web...
This image: Webb spotted a multiply-imaged supernova in a distant galaxy designated MRG-M0138. Two images of the supernova (circled) are seen in the Webb NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) image above, but an additional supernova image is expected to become visible around 2035. In this image blue represents light at 1.15 and 1.5 microns (F115W+F150), green is 2.0 and 2.77 microns (F200W+277W), and red is 3.56 and 4.44 microns (F356W + F444W). Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Justin Pierel (STScI) and Andrew Newman (Carnegie Institution for Science).
Image description: A two-panel image. At left, dozens of small galaxies are scattered on the black background of space. A curved and distorted orange galaxy on the right side is highlighted with a white box. It appears far larger than the majority of the galaxies around it, and looks like the left half of an incomplete semi-circle. Lines extend from the box that outlines the galaxy to the right side, which shows an enlarged view of the curved galaxy image. Two faint points of light are circled. The first appears near the center of the swooping orange line that makes up the galaxy, and the second is toward the bottom right.
Tags: MACSJ 0138 supernova gravitational lensing jwst webb hubble james webb space telescope
In this new Webb image, the central galaxy cluster has such immense mass that it distorts and magnifies the light from more distant galaxies behind it — giving these galaxies their stretched out shape. The effect is known as gravitational lensing, and it allows astronomers to study some of the most distant galaxies in the universe. Read more: esawebb.org/images/potm2312a/
Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, J. Rigby and the JWST TEMPLATES team
Image description: A cluster of galaxies. Most of the visible galaxies are oval-shaped and smooth. A few have spiral arms in various orientations. The largest galaxy is directly in the center, and close by it are several images of background galaxies, stretched and warped into long arcs by gravitational lensing. The background is black and contains many very small galaxies, but no stars.
Seen here by Webb, ice giant Uranus is a dynamic world with rings, moons, storms, extreme seasons, and more. Webb’s sensitivity has even captured the close-in Zeta ring, faint, diffuse, and elusive.
go.nasa.gov/3RNDSu0
These new images reveal detailed features of Uranus’s seasonal north polar cap, as well as bright storms near and below the southern border of the cap. If humans want to send a spacecraft to visit Uranus up close, it’s necessary to understand how to navigate debris from its rings.
Because of the planet’s extreme 98-degree tilt, its seasons are extreme. For a quarter of its year, the Sun shines on one pole, which means half the planet experiences a dark, 21-year winter.
Context is king! Uranus is a good proxy for many of the types of far-off exoplanets being discovered. Learning more about Uranus may help us understand more about planets of this size in general, including their meteorology, and how they formed.
Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI
This image: This image of Uranus from NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows the planet and its rings in new clarity. The Webb image exquisitely captures Uranus’s seasonal north polar cap, including the bright, white, inner cap and the dark lane in the bottom of the polar cap. Uranus’ dim inner and outer rings are also visible in this image, including the elusive Zeta ring—the extremely faint and diffuse ring closest to the planet.
This Webb image also shows 9 of the planet’s 27 moons. They are the blue dots that surround the planet’s rings. Clockwise starting at 2 o’clock, they are: Rosalind, Puck, Belinda, Desdemona, Cressida, Bianca, Portia, Juliet, and Perdita. The orbits of these moons share the 98-degree tilt of their parent planet relative to the plane of the solar system.
One day on Uranus is about 17 hours, so the planet’s rotation is relatively quick. This makes it supremely difficult for observatories with a sharp eye like Webb to capture one simple image of the entire planet – storms and other atmospheric features, and the planet’s moons, move visibly within minutes. This image combines several longer and shorter exposures of this dynamic system to correct for those slight changes throughout the observing time.
Image description: The planet Uranus on a black background. The planet appears blue with a large, white patch taking up the right half. The patch is whitest at the center, then fades into blue at it expands from right to left. A thin outline of Uranus is also white. Around the planet is a system of nested rings. The outermost ring is the brightest while the innermost ring is the faintest. Unlike Saturn’s horizontal rings, the rings of Uranus are vertical and so they appear to surround the planet in an oval shape. There are 9 blueish white dots scattered around the rings.
Tags: Uranus
Seen here by Webb, ice giant Uranus is a dynamic world with rings, moons, storms, extreme seasons, and more. Webb’s sensitivity has even captured the close-in Zeta ring, faint, diffuse, and elusive.
go.nasa.gov/4amAIEB
These new images reveal detailed features of Uranus’s seasonal north polar cap, as well as bright storms near and below the southern border of the cap. If humans want to send a spacecraft to visit Uranus up close, it’s necessary to understand how to navigate debris from its rings.
Because of the planet’s extreme 98-degree tilt, its seasons are extreme. For a quarter of its year, the Sun shines on one pole, which means half the planet experiences a dark, 21-year winter.
Context is king! Uranus is a good proxy for many of the types of far-off exoplanets being discovered. Learning more about Uranus may help us understand more about planets of this size in general, including their meteorology, and how they formed.
Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI
This image: This image of Uranus from NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows the planet and its rings in new clarity. The planet’s seasonal north polar cap gleams in a bright white, and Webb’s exquisite sensitivity resolves Uranus’ dim inner and outer rings, including the Zeta ring—the extremely faint and diffuse ring closest to the planet.
This Webb image also shows 14 of the planet’s 27 moons: Oberon, Titania, Umbriel, Juliet, Perdita, Rosalind, Puck, Belinda, Desdemona, Cressida, Ariel, Miranda, Bianca, and Portia.
One day on Uranus is about 17 hours, so the planet’s rotation is relatively quick. This makes it supremely difficult for observatories with a sharp eye like Webb to capture one simple image of the entire planet – storms and other atmospheric features, and the planet’s moons, move visibly within minutes. This image combines several longer and shorter exposures of this dynamic system to correct for those slight changes throughout the observing time.
Webb’s extreme sensitivity also picks up a smattering of background galaxies—most appear as orange smudges, and there are two larger, fuzzy white galaxies to the right of the planet in this field of view.
Image description: An image with a black background. The planet Uranus is a glowing orb near the center surrounded by rings. The planet appears blue with a large, white patch taking up the right half. The patch is whitest at the center, then fades into blue at it expands from right to left. A thin outline of Uranus is also white. Around the planet is a system of nested rings. There are faint orange and off-white smudges, some oval, some circular, that are background galaxies scattered throughout the image. Several bright blue point sources closer to Uranus are the planet’s moons. There is also a bright star at the left of the field, with 8 diffraction spikes.
Tags: jwst webb james space telescope uranus