NASA's Webb and Hubble Telescopes Capture Stunning View of Galaxy Cluster, Identify 14 New Cosmic Transients

NASA's Hubble and Webb telescopes join forces to study the MACS0416 galaxy cluster, leading to the discovery of 14 new cosmic transients and revealing an expansive view of the universe over a range of light wavelengths, with identified transients suggesting potential for numerous similar discoveries.

NASA's James Webb and Hubble Space Telescopes have collaborated to study the expansive galaxy cluster MACS0416, located about 4.3 billion light-years from Earth. Their combined observations yielded a stunningly detailed panchromatic image of the cluster.
The combined data from Webb and Hubble allowed researchers to reveal new details that were not individually visible with either telescope. This includes galaxies that were invisible or barely visible in Hubble's view but detected by Webb’s infrared vision.
The researchers identified 14 transient objects across the field of the MACS0416 cluster, with twelve of these being highly magnified by gravitational lensing and likely to be individual stars or multiple-star systems. The remaining two transients are likely to be supernovae.
One particularly notable transient, nicknamed 'Mothra', is located in a galaxy that existed about 3 billion years after the Big Bang and is magnified by a factor of at least 4,000. This transient was also visible in Hubble's observations taken nine years prior.
The discovery and examination of these transients suggest the potential for numerous similar findings in the future. This underlines the significance of regular monitoring of clusters like MACS0416 with the Webb Space Telescope.