Cassiopeia A (NIRCam and MIRI side by side)

Cassiopeia A (NIRCam and MIRI side by side)

This image provides a side-by-side comparison of supernova remnant Cassiopeia A (Cas A) as captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) and MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument).

At first glance, Webb’s NIRCam image appears less colorful than the MIRI image overall, however, this is only due to the wavelengths in which the material from the object is emitting its light. The NIRCam image appears a bit sharper than the MIRI image due to its increased resolution.

The outskirts of the main inner shell, which appeared as a deep orange and red in the MIRI image, looks like smoke from a campfire in the NIRCam image. This marks where the supernova blast wave is ramming into surrounding circumstellar material. The dust in the circumstellar material is too cool to be detected directly at near-infrared wavelengths, but lights up in the mid-infrared.

Also not seen in the near-infrared view is the loop of green light in the central cavity of Cas A that glowed in mid-infrared, nicknamed the Green Monster by the research team. The circular holes visible in the MIRI image within the Green Monster, however, are faintly outlined in white and purple emission in the NIRCam image.

Credits

Image

NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Danny Milisavljevic (Purdue University), Ilse De Looze (UGent), Tea Temim (Princeton University)

About The Object
Object Name Cassiopeia A; SNR G111.7-02.1
Object Description Supernova remnant
R.A. Position 23:23:24.00
Dec. Position +58:48:54.00
Constellation Cassiopeia
Distance 11,090 light-years
Dimensions Image is about 5.8 arcminutes across (19 light-years).
About The Data
Data Description This image was created with Webb data from proposal: (D. Milisavljevic).
Instrument NIRCam
Exposure Dates 05 November 2022
Filters F162M, F356W, F444W
About The Image
Color Info These images are a composite of separate exposures acquired by the James Webb Space Telescope using the NIRCam instrument. Several filters were used to sample specific wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic (grayscale) image associated with an individual filter. In this case, the assigned colors are:   Blue: F162M, Green: F356W, Red: F444W
About The Object
Object Name A name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
Object Description The type of astronomical object.
R.A. Position Right ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.
Dec. Position Declination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.
Constellation One of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.
Distance The physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs.
Dimensions The physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky.
About The Data
Data Description
  • Proposal: A description of the observations, their scientific justification, and the links to the data available in the science archive.
  • Science Team: The astronomers who planned the observations and analyzed the data. "PI" refers to the Principal Investigator.
Instrument The science instrument used to produce the data.
Exposure Dates The date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.
Filters The camera filters that were used in the science observations.
About The Image
Image Credit The primary individuals and institutions responsible for the content.
Publication Date The date and time the release content became public.
Color Info A brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented.
Orientation The rotation of the image on the sky with respect to the north pole of the celestial sphere.

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