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This Supernova Progenitor Hid Behind a Surprisingly Thick Veil of Carbon Dust

The main image is a combined Hubble/JWST image of a supernova in NGC 1637. The remaining three panels are zoom-ins that show a detailed view of a red supergiant star before and after it exploded. The star is not visible in the Hubble image before the explosion, but appears in the Webb image. The July 2025 view from Hubble shows the glowing aftermath of the explosion. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, C. Kilpatrick (Northwestern), A. Suresh (Northwestern); Image Processing: J. DePasquale (STScI)

For the first time, astronomers have used images from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope to identify a supernova progenitor that could not be seen by any other telescope: a red supergiant that was located in a nearby galaxy. The supergiant’s surroundings were surprisingly dusty - dusty enough to render it invisible to the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.



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