Supernova remnant · In the Milky Way

Cassiopeia A

Supernova remnant

From the Sun

11,000 light-years

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Cassiopeia AOpen in 3D
Picture: NASA, ESA, CSA, D. Milisavljevic (Purdue University), T. Temim (Princeton University), I. De Looze (UGent), J. DePasquale (STScI)

What it is

The youngest known supernova remnant in the Milky Way: its light reached Earth around 1680, apparently unnoticed.

The picture hangs at that distance facing Earth, as large as it is on the sky; how deep the object is cannot be seen, so it is flat.

The picture

Taken by
James Webb Space Telescope
Picture spans
about 24 ly
From the Sun
11,000 light-years
RA / Dec
350.86° / 58.82°
Credit
NASA, ESA, CSA, D. Milisavljevic (Purdue University), T. Temim (Princeton University), I. De Looze (UGent), J. DePasquale (STScI)

Cassiopeia A

Cassiopeia A is a supernova remnant (SNR) in the constellation Cassiopeia and the brightest extrasolar radio source in the sky at frequencies below 1 GHz. The supernova occurred approximately 11,000 light-years (3.4 kpc) away within the Milky Way; given the width of the Orion Arm, it lies in the next-nearest arm outwards, the Perseus Arm, about 30 degrees from the Galactic anticenter.

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In the Milky Way