NASA’s Webb Telescope Locates Former Star That Exploded as Supernova
stsci_2026-112a February 23rd, 2026
Credit: Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, C. Kirkpatrick (Northwestern), A. Suresh (Northwestern); Image Processing: J. DePasquale (STScI)
The main image at left shows a view of spiral galaxy NGC 1637 from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and Hubble Space Telescope. Hubble’s shorter-wavelength data is represented in blue and green, while Webb’s longer-wavelength data is represented in green and red. Panels at the right show a detailed view of a red supergiant star before and after it exploded. Before exploding, it is not visible to Hubble, only to Webb. Hubble shows the glowing aftermath in July 2025.
Provider: Space Telescope Science Institute
Image Source: https://science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/nasas-webb-telescope-locates-former-star-that-exploded-as-supernova/
Curator: STScI, Baltimore, MD, USA
Image Use Policy: http://stsci.edu/copyright/
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Image Details
Distance
Position Details
Color Mapping
- ID
- 2026-112a
- Subject Category
- C.3.1.8
- Subject Name
- NGC 1637
- Credits
- Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, C. Kirkpatrick (Northwestern), A. Suresh (Northwestern); Image Processing: J. DePasquale (STScI)
- Release Date
- 2026-02-23
- Lightyears
- 39,000,000
- Redshift
- 39,000,000
- Reference Url
- https://science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/nasas-webb-telescope-locates-former-star-that-exploded-as-supernova/
- Type
- Observation
- Image Quality
- Good
- Distance Notes
- distance in lightyears
- Facility
- Hubble, Hubble, Hubble, Webb, Webb, Webb
- Instrument
- WFC3, WFC3, WFC3, NIRCam, NIRCam, NIRCam
- Color Assignment
- Blue, Blue, Green, Green, Orange, Red
- Band
- Optical, Optical, Optical, Infrared, Infrared, Infrared
- Bandpass
- Central Wavelength
- 438, 555, 814, 1500, 2770, 4440
- Start Time
- Integration Time
- Dataset ID
- Notes
- Coordinate Frame
- ICRS
- Equinox
- 2000.0
- Reference Value
- 70.36617401720, -2.85933180577
- Reference Dimension
- 5500.00, 4615.00
- Reference Pixel
- 2292.53495304030, 2116.23594718365
- Scale
- -0.00000863281, 0.00000863281
- Rotation
- 80.55272302041
- Coordinate System Projection:
- TAN
- Quality
- Full
- FITS Header
- Notes
- World Coordinate System resolved using PinpointWCS 0.9.2 revision 218+ by the Chandra X-ray Center
- Creator (Curator)
- STScI
- URL
- http://stsci.edu
- Name
- Space Telescope Science Institute Office of Public Outreach
- outreach@stsci.edu
- Telephone
- 410-338-4444
- Address
- 3700 San Martin Drive
- City
- Baltimore
- State/Province
- MD
- Postal Code
- 21218
- Country
- USA
- Rights
- http://stsci.edu/copyright/
- Publisher
- STScI
- Publisher ID
- stsci
- Resource ID
- STSCI-J-p26112a-f-5500x4615.tif
- Resource URL
- https://mast.stsci.edu/api/latest/Download/file?uri=mast:OPO/product/STSCI_PR_2025-145/STSCI-J-p25145a-f-5500x4615.tif
- Related Resources
- Metadata Date
- 2026-02-24T15:46:16-05:00
- Metadata Version
- 1.2
Detailed color mapping information coming soon...
