The James Webb Space Telescope has for the first time observed a neutron star taking shape amid the wreckage of a massive star explosion.
Nasa said that the supernova, known as SN 1987A, was a core-collapse supernova, which means that the compacted remains at its core formed either a neutron star or a black hole. This is the first time that the effects of high-energy emission from the probable young neutron star have been detected.
The supernova, the explosion of the star, happened 1,60,000 light-years away from Earth and was first observed on Earth in February 1987. According to Nasa, it was the first supernova that could be seen with the naked eye since Kepler’s Supernova was observed in 1604.
Back in 1987, observatories detected a 10-second burst of tiny particles called neutrinos, hours before SN 1987A was observed in visible light. Based on this pattern, astronomers’ models demonstrated that a neutron star or black hole should have formed in the explosion.
