The James Webb Space Telescope has struck again in a beautiful way. The device was able to capture the remains of an exploding star. What makes it even more special this time is that a Belgian was also involved somewhere. Prof. Ilse De Looze (UGent) requested the image together with other international scientists. “Our team can continue with this for several years.”
The image from the NASA space telescope is spectacular to say the least. In the middle of the darkness of the universe you see thousands of orange-pink swirls, which seem to form a large circle. The whole, which is located about 11,000 light years away, also seems to be ‘finished’ with various clouds of smoke.
What are we actually looking at?
“In the photo we see the remains of a massive star,” says Ilse De Looze, who was involved in the project. “This star exploded in our Milky Way about 350 years ago, and the energy released created a shock wave. Compare it with a stone that you throw into a pond. The star, like the rock, has simply pushed away all surrounding material. In technical terms, we also call such an explosion a supernova.”
Although that is certainly not the only thing we can see in the image of the remains, also called Cassiopeia A. “In the image you also see some orange-pink colors. These are the tiny fragments of the original massive star that remain after the supernova. The smoke clouds indicate the location where the supernova shock wave is currently colliding with surrounding material.”
The details of the exploded star © NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, D. Milisavljevic/Purdue University, T. Temim/Princeton University, I. De Looze/Ghent University
How does a Belgian team get involved in this?
Together with eight other people, I conduct research into dust in space at the University of Ghent. Images of space are of course very important. With a team of international researchers, led by Dr. Dan Milisavljevic of Purdue University, we therefore submitted a so-called observation proposal to NASA, the American space agency. After all, it is they who decide which images the James Webb Space Telescope makes.”
“Our team was lucky and was selected. That’s really not that obvious. It is a very popular telescope because it provides exceptionally detailed images. For example, the size of the mirror ensures that the light from dim objects in the room can still be perceived. ”
Prof. Ilse De Looze from Ghent University © rv
Why do you research material? Is that useful?
“With our work we want to understand how the dust in galaxies was formed. We know that dust can be formed in supernova remnants like Cassiopeia A, but supernova shock waves can also destroy dust. We want to use our research to determine the precise contribution of this.”
“Take the special shape at the bottom right, for example. That’s a light echo. It is dust in our Milky Way that was heated by the light released by the supernova explosion about 350 years ago. This light echo allows the dust to be studied in detail. What are the properties of this substance? And can you compare it to dust in our solar system? These are all questions that have kept our team busy for several years.”
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2023-12-16 16:51:48
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