James Webb Space Telescope reveals new details of iconic star explosion remnants

That keyhole is surrounded by a bright, equatorial ring that forms a band and connects the two faint arms of the hourglass-shaped outer rings. This equatorial ring is formed from the material ejected tens of thousands of years before the explosion and contains bright hot spots that were formed as the supernova’s shock wave hit it. Some similar spots can be found outside the ring as well.

These structures have already been observed to varying degrees of clarity by the Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes and even the Chandra X-ray observatory. But Webb’s spatial resolution and sensitivity have revealed a new undiscovered feature—small near-crescent structures. These crescents are believed to be part of the outer layers of gas shot out from the explosion.

What looks like a cosmic jellyfish is the iconic #SUPERNOVA 1987A captured by the #jameswebb space telescope. pic.twitter.com/FWVgjIeEIe

— IE Science (@iexpressscience) September 1, 2023

The brightness of these crescents could be an indication of limb brightening, which is an optical phenomenon that happens when viewing expanding material in three dimensions. Basically, our viewing angle makes it look like there is more material in these two crescents than there actually might be.

Even decades after the supernova’s initial discovery, it still holds many mysteries., like the fact that there doesn’t seem to be a neutron star that should have formed in the aftermath of the explosion.