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The main image at left shows a combined Webb and Hubble view of spiral galaxy NGC 1637, with the region of interest in the top right. The remaining three panels show a detailed view of a red supergiant star before and after it exploded. (NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI voa SWNS)<\/p>\n
By Talker<\/p>\n
The most detailed glimpse yet of a doomed star<\/a> hidden in dust before it exploded has been captured by astronomers.<\/p>\n The observations – combined with archival images from the Hubble Space Telescope – revealed the explosion came from a massive red supergiant star, cloaked in an unexpected shroud of dust.<\/p>\n The discovery may help solve the decades-old mystery of why massive red supergiants rarely explode.<\/p>\n Theoretical models predict red supergiants should make up the majority of core-collapse supernovae.<\/p>\n Astronomers can now finally pierce through the dust thanks to the JWST\u2019s advanced capabilities.<\/p>\n The star is not visible in the Hubble image before the explosion, but appears in the Webb image. (NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI via SWNS)<\/p>\n By Talker<\/p>\n Study leader Dr. Charlie Kilpatrick said: \u201cFor multiple decades, we have been trying to determine exactly what the explosions of red supergiant stars<\/a> look like.<\/p>\n \u201cOnly now, with JWST, do we finally have the quality of data and infrared observations that allow us to say precisely the exact type of red supergiant that exploded and what its immediate environment looked like.”<\/p>\n Dr. Kilpatrick, a research Assistant Professor at Northwestern University<\/a>, added: “We\u2019ve been waiting for this to happen – for a supernova to explode in a galaxy that JWST had already observed.<\/p>\n “We combined Hubble and JWST data sets to completely characterize this star for the first time.\u201d<\/p>\n Astronomers first detected the supernova, dubbed SN2025pht, on June 29 this year.<\/p>\n Its light had travelled from a nearby galaxy called NGC 1637, located 40 million light-years away from Earth.<\/p>\n By comparing Hubble and JWST images of NGC 1637 from before and after the star\u2019s explosion, the research team found SN2025pht\u2019s progenitor star.<\/p>\n Dr. Kilpatrick said: “It was immediately striking – extremely bright and incredibly red.”<\/p>\n Although the star shone about 100,000 times brighter than our sun, surrounding dust obscured much of the light.<\/p>\n The dusty veil was so thick that the star appeared more than 100 times dimmer in visible light than it would appear without the dust.<\/p>\n Because dust blocked out shorter, bluer wavelengths of light, the star also appeared surprisingly red.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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