In 2009, a monster star 25 times the size of the Sun disappeared completely. The James Webb Space Telescope just found it, in a way that completely baffled scientists.
A team of scientists led by the University of Arizona (USA) has attempted to use a series of state-of-the-art telescopes to search for N6945-BH1, the mysterious missing star .
There are many theories surrounding the sudden disappearance of this "monster" star that was shining brightly in Earth's sky. The leading theory is that it was a "failed supernova".
The sky where N6945-BH1 exists has been empty since 2009 - (Photo: ESA).
Instead of exploding at the end of their lives and forming a supernova—a bright, glowing cloud of gas and dust that lasts for years— some stars may collapse straight into a dark black hole, a failed supernova . But all that is speculation.
According to Science Arlert, the above research team tried to find the answer by mobilizing the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT), the most advanced tools on NASA's Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes. but still could not find the star or its remnant.
Finally, the game changed when NASA invested in the James Webb super telescope, launched in 2022 and co-operated with ESA, CSA (European and Canadian space agencies).
N6945-BH1 reappears under the "magic eye" of James Webb.
James Webb saw it, but not one, but three different objects . What caused this "monster" star to spontaneously split into three - and what it actually is - is a mystery even greater than its disappearance.
Using James Webb's NIRCam and MIRI instruments, scientists detected a bright infrared source that appeared to be a dust shell left behind surrounding the original "star" location.
But that supernova hypothesis is completely absurd, because no supernova can explode and split a star into three stars.
The theory that scientists believe is most likely is that what we think of as a supernova explosion , and the "missing star" itself, is actually a burst of light from a stellar merger.
One of the three objects may have been two stars that had just merged. The light from the event was so great that combined with the light from the other three objects, humans mistook it for a "monster" star dozens of times brighter than the Sun.
