Early-Universe Supernova

Produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute’s Office of Public Outreach in collaboration with NASA’s Universe of Learning partners: Caltech/IPAC, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

 

Video imagery:

·       Galaxy cluster Abell 370: NASA, ESA/Hubble, HST Frontier Fields

·       Video explaining gravitational lensing: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

·       Hubble images of lensed supernova:  NASA, ESA, STScI, Wenlei Chen (UMN), Patrick Kelly (UMN), Hubble Frontier Fields

Writer: Leah Ramsay

Designer: Leah Hustak

Science review: Dr. Christopher Britt

Education review: Jim Manning

Music from Music for Non-Profits

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Over photos of celestial bodies, a line sweeps down and to the right.

 

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Text: News from the Universe. November 17, 2022. Early-Universe Supernova. In a Hubble image, flecks of light glimmer around a supernova. Text: NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has captured the first detailed look at a supernova in the early universe. The Hubble photo slowly rotates.

 

In an animation, one straight line framed by two curved lines meet a flat surface. Text: The supernova's light passed through space that was warped by the gravity of a massive galaxy cluster. In the animation, the flat surface rotates. On the back of the surface, light swirls in a ring formation.

 

Text: Due to the warping, multiple images of the supernova over different time periods all arrived at Earth at once and were captured in one Hubble image.

 

A photo of Galaxy Cluster Abell 270 appears. Insets reveal photos of four different images of the lensed galaxy and supernova that form the Hubble image.

 

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Text: The images show the supernova fading and its temperature changing. In a photo, circles mark 1 (day 0), 2 (day 2) and 3 (day 8). Text: A very early phase of the supernova appears blue, which is hotter. In the image, a circled area indicating day two appears blue.

 

Text: As the supernova cooled, its light turned redder. In the image, a circled area indicating day 8 appears redder.

 

Text: Scientists plan to build a catalog of early-universe supernovas, to better understand the young universe and its stars.

 

The Hubble image of the early-universe supernova appears. Text: This news was brought to you in part by the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland.