NASA Reveals What the Green Monster Discovered by James Webb Space Telescope Is – Teach Me About Science

Discoveries in space never cease to surprise us, some for their astonishing beauty and others for the peculiarity of their characteristics, such as the case of the giant structures of the galaxies Great Ring and Giant Arc, which are celestial bodies, because about space. Due to their contradictory nature to the principles propounded in, they should not exist. However, once again the universe shows us that there are many things that we do not yet know and that it can offer us.

Another example of this is a phenomenon that, although it was discovered by the James Webb Space Telescope in April 2023, scientists have yet to find any explanation for its origin. However, a recent study combined data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and the James Webb Telescope to better understand the origin of this phenomenon. This is a feature known as the “Green Monster”, part of a shock wave that borders the debris field of a stellar explosion, seen as a ring of green light in the supernova remnant .

This “green monster” was detected in the remnant of supernova Cassiopeia A (Cas A), located 11,000 light years from Earth in the constellation Cassiopeia. This supernova remnant is a stellar explosion that has attracted the attention of astronomers, because the star that gave rise to Cas A had a short, albeit intense, life as it consumed its nuclear fuel at a fairly accelerated rate. Therefore, while collapsing, it produced a powerful explosion which, for a few moments, obscured the light of its entire galaxy.

When this happened, the light had reached Earth in 1671, more than 300 years ago. And although this star was classified as a star by the British astronomer John Flamsteed, there are no historical records confirming this event. And the existence of an intense source of radio waves in Cassiopeia was not discovered until the 20th century.

To obtain a better image of Cassiopeia A (Cassie A), NASA’s James Webb, Hubble, Spitzer, and Chandra telescopes combined, resulting in a detailed image never seen before. The Chandra

This study suggests that this object originated when a shock wave collided with material that had already been ejected by the star between about 10,000 and 100,000 years ago before it exploded. And likewise, the study has helped to clarify that, although the green monster appears in images of Cas A, it is not part of it.

To be able to see in more detail, the researchers superimposed the green monster with the help of a digital tool, in this way it was possible to unlock the background and see everything hidden behind this fascinating phenomenon near the center of Cass A. Done. This was also an achievement, as it was the first time that the interiors of a supernova explosion had been seen in such detail and so well preserved.

Scientific research will never stop moving forward, so these types of discoveries open the door to new theoretical models, to refute and reorganize what was previously proposed or to confirm what was thought about a subject. . However, even if some questions are answered, more questions will always emerge that will reveal the mysteries that the universe never stops providing us.