He James Webb Space Telescope (JSWT) He does it again and with his advanced technology he helps document a curious spatial phenomenon that leads us to a scientific study that stimulates an interesting reflection on how life is born from chaos.
A few weeks ago we reported how this instrument was able to detect about 150 strange objects in the Orion Nebula that were previously imperceptible by the brightness of neighboring astral bodies.
But now, thanks to the power and precision of the JWST, it has been possible to document the existence of hundreds of new bodies and formations that were previously imperceptible to existing technology.
This is a historic advance in the field of space exploration. However, that would not be the only thanks to the James Webb Space Telescope.
A perfect example is the case that we share with you today, where the artifact managed to document a stellar explosion that leads to connecting everything with the very origin of our planet and all the current life that resides here.
James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) unravels the explosion of GRB 230307A
On March 7, 2023, the James Webb Space Telescope and other observatories detected a massive stellar explosion about a billion light years from Earth.
The explosion, called GRB 230307A, previously reported by our colleagues at Advertising meterwas the second brightest ever observed and is believed to have been caused by the merger of two neutron stars.
The study on this phenomenon has just been published in the journal Naturegenerating great expectations in the community, since it is the first time that the material released from a kilonova has been observed.
This is a rare type of stellar explosion that is believed to be responsible for the creation of heavy chemical elements, including some that are necessary for life. In the case of GRB 230307A The explosion was so bright that it was even visible to the naked eye for a few minutes.
So a team of researchers, scientists and astronomers used a variety of telescopes to track the explosion and determine its origin. Where the JWST was the most determining tool.
Since the data collected by James Webb showed that the explosion was caused by the merger of two neutron stars, thus creating a kilonova in their fusion, that is, an explosion of material highly enriched in heavy elements was documented.
The telescope helped detect the “chemical signature” of tellurium, a rare metalloid used in a variety of applications, including lithium-ion batteries, in the material released by the kilonova.
Thanks to which researchers hope that other elements close to tellurium in the periodic table, such as iodine, which is necessary for life on Earth, are also present in the material released by the kilonova.
So the JWST helped study a phenomenon that explains the exact chemical process for the formation of elements that lay the foundation for generating life on our planet.