Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), an international team of astronomers has observed the galaxy cluster PLCK G165.7+67.0. The observational campaign resulted in the detection of a new Type I supernova. The finding is reported in a paper published September 13 on the pre-print server arXiv.
Supernovae (SNe) are powerful and luminous stellar explosions. They are important for the scientific community as they offer essential clues into the evolution of stars and galaxies. In general, SNe are divided into two groups based on their atomic spectra: Type I (no hydrogen in their spectra) and Type II (showcasing hydrogen spectral lines).
Type Ia supernovae (SN Ia) are found in binary systems in which one of the stars is a white dwarf. Stellar explosions of this type are important for the scientific community, as they offer essential clues into the evolution of stars and galaxies.
A group of astronomers led by Brenda L. Frye of the Steward Observatory in Tucson, Arizona, has recently observed PLCK G165.7+67.0 (or G165 for short)—a galaxy cluster at a redshift of 0.35 with a mass of around 200–300 trillion solar masses. During these observations they detected a supernova at a redshift of 1.78 using JWST’s Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam). The new supernova, dubbed ”SN H0pe,” was identified in Arc 2—an infrared-bright galaxy gravitationally amplified by G165.
“The SN is situated 1.5–2 kpc from its host galaxy Arc 2 and appears in three different locations as a result of gravitational lensing by G165. These data can yield a value for Hubble’s constant using time delays from this multiply-imaged SN Ia that we call ‘SN H0pe,'” the researchers wrote in the paper.
2023-09-21 18:48:03
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