JWST finds the compact object in SN 1987A
Infrared integral-field spectroscopy with JWST detected narrow argon and sulphur emission lines confined to the centre of the SN 1987A remnant. Photoionisation modelling indicates the gas is being ionised either by ultraviolet and X-ray radiation from a hot cooling neutron star or by a pulsar wind nebula. After thirty-seven years in which the expected remnant had never been seen, the object the neutrino burst implied was finally located; which of the two ionisation mechanisms dominates is still argued.
Observed — measured or witnessed, with the observation cited.
Subjects
- Neutron star · celestial body · Galactic · not located
- Supernova · phenomenon · not located
Evidence
Partly verified — Core facts are sourced; some optional detail is deliberately absent.
Emission lines due to ionizing radiation from a compact object in the remnant of Supernova 1987A
Reports narrow argon and sulphur lines at the centre of the SN 1987A remnant consistent with ionisation by a cooling neutron star or a pulsar wind nebula. Title, publication date and DOI come from the publisher listing via search; the paper was not fetched, and which of the two ionisation mechanisms dominates is described in follow-up literature as unresolved.
Science (AAAS) · 2024-02-22 · Partly verified
C. Fransson et al., Science (2024); DOI 10.1126/science.adj5796
Recorded on Neutron star
- A guest star appears in Taurus and is recorded in East Asia
- Baade and Zwicky propose supernovae and neutron stars
- A regularly pulsing radio source is identified
- A pulsar is found inside the Crab Nebula
- SN 1987A: neutrinos from a collapsing core reach Earth
- A neutron-star merger is detected in gravitational waves and light
- A radius is measured for the heaviest known neutron star
- JWST finds the compact object in SN 1987A
Related
Related because they share a subject in the Atlas — never because the text looks similar.
- A radius is measured for the heaviest known neutron star · 2021
- A neutron-star merger is detected in gravitational waves and light · 2017-08-17
- SN 1987A: neutrinos from a collapsing core reach Earth · 1987-02-23 ~07:35 UT (neutrinos); optical discovery 1987-02-24
- A pulsar is found inside the Crab Nebula · 1968
- A regularly pulsing radio source is identified · 1967-11-28
- Baade and Zwicky propose supernovae and neutron stars · 1934
- A guest star appears in Taurus and is recorded in East Asia · 1054 (first sighting commonly given as 4 July; contested)