Supernova 1987A – NIRCam

The James Webb Space Telescope’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) captured a detailed image of Supernova 1987A, which occurred about 168,000 light-years from Earth. At the centre is a keyhole shape formed by material ejected from the supernova. To its left and right, there are faint crescents recently discovered by Webb. Beyond them is an equatorial ring with bright hot spots, formed from material ejected long before the supernova.  (Credits: ESA, NASA, CSA, Mikako Matsuura (Cardiff University), Richard Arendt (NASA-GSFC, UMBC), Claes Fransson (Stockholm University), Josefin Larsson (KTH), Image processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI))