The James Webb Space Telescope of NASA has discovered a large number of new supernovae in the early universe. Webb can see infrared light, which is important for spotting very old stars.
A team of scientists used Webb to look at the sky and discovered ten times more exploding stars than they had previously known about. They found about 80 exploding stars in a small part of the sky.
Christa DeCoursey, a student, said, “Webb is a great tool for finding exploding stars.” She talked about this at a big science meeting.
The scientists used Webb’s pictures to find the exploding stars. They examined photographs taken at various times and noticed stars that appeared or disappeared. We refer to these shifting stars as transients. Exploding stars are one example of a transient.
One special type of exploding star, called Type Ia, helps scientists understand how fast the universe is growing. The team discovered one of these stars that are very far away.
This allows scientists to determine whether these stars are all the same brightness, no matter how far away they are.
Webb’s discovery represents a significant step forward. It enabled scientists to learn more about the universe when it was very young. They can not wait to learn more through further research.
