Several evolutionary paths can lead to a supernova explosion. One is the death of a supermassive star. When a supermassive star runs out of its hydrogen fuel, it begins a stage where it fuses the remaining elements to heavier and heavier ones. These final fusion reactions generate less and less outward force (radiation pressure) to balance the star’s gravitational...
Measuring the distance to truly remote objects like galaxies, quasars, and galaxy clusters is a crucial task in astrophysics, particularly when it comes to studying the early universe, but it’s a difficult one to complete. We can only measure the distances to a few nearby objects like the Sun, planets, and some nearby stars directly. Beyond that, astronomers need to...
The JADES Deep Field uses observations taken by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) as part of the JADES (JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey) program. A team of astronomers studying JADES data identified about 80 objects that changed in brightness over time. Most of these objects, known as transients, are the result of exploding stars or supernovae. See...