Welcome to r/science! This is a heavily moderated subreddit in order to keep the discussion on science. However, we recognize that many people want to discuss how they feel the research relates to their own personal lives, so to give people a space to do that, personal anecdotes are allowed as responses to this comment. Any anecdotal comments elsewhere in the discussion will be removed and our normal comment rules apply to all other comments.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

Abstract: We present new 0.3–21 μm photometry of SN 2021aefx in the spiral galaxy NGC 1566 at +357 days after B-band maximum, including the first detection of any Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) at >15 μm. These observations follow earlier JWST observations of SN 2021aefx at +255 days after the time of maximum brightness, allowing us to probe the temporal evolution of the emission properties. We measure the fraction of flux emerging at different wavelengths and its temporal evolution. Additionally, the integrated 0.3–14 μm decay rate of Δm0.3–14 = 1.35 ± 0.05 mag/100 days is higher than the decline rate from the radioactive decay of 56Co of ∼1.2 mag/100 days. The most plausible explanation for this discrepancy is that flux is shifting to >14 μm, and future JWST observations of SNe Ia will be able to directly test this hypothesis. However, models predicting nonradiative energy loss cannot be excluded with the present data.

Headline missed the opportunity to say “shed new light on the cosmos”

"Located about 40 million miles away from Earth..." That's gonna to burn a bit. Original article: 40 million light-years.

Yeah, I was wondering about that distance.

In any event, the JWST is the gift that keeps on giving. I’m thrilled at each turn.

for how smart scientists are, and how often they are bored just waiting and waiting for results, I am always shocked at how infrequently they nail an opportunity like that.

When does JWST v2.0 start getting built?

>According to their study, the discovery could offer new insight into the cosmos.

Or, it might not.

Damn, can my boy get a single rotation around the sun first?

It's a university press release. These should be blacklisted from this sub. It's always an undergraduate with no understanding of the topic writing these things up.

Personal question, if I may: do you cut the honeydew first?

Astronomers have the downside that their field can't as boldly claim to one day cure cancer or provide limitless clean energy.

> JWST is the gift that keeps on giving

Sometimes I do this thing where I write down upcoming events and their expected dates on small pieces of scrap paper and tape them to the wall near my desk. Basically, significant upcoming events that interest me, but nothing so crucial that I need to put in an app to remind me. Often they are things that I tend to completely forget about for months at a time when there are no updates or whatever. They get removed as they occur.

I had one with JWST written in sharpie, which had been there for yeeears! I kept moving it back in the queue, as the launch kept getting rescheduled. At first, the paper had a year on it, but that part got cut off and I just taped a new year on a smaller paper every time. I was so freakin excited about it, but I had to not think about it or risk getting frustrated and disappointed by the delays or a lack of news. It was a long slow pain.

After the launch, I was somewhat happy to tear that one down, but also having to wait for more months as configs were done, then waiting for image captures, etc. It was such torture.

So happy it's up and running now. I'll probably never stop wanting more discoveries from it.

> an undergraduate with no understanding of the topic

I feel attacked.

[removed]

I think we all would like to know this.

Well it took like 30+ years to make the first one. Need to start now!

I've been excited for it for as long as I can remember, I've followed it closely for most of my life. It was so valued by the scientific community before it even launched that when the Ariane 5 rocket that would carry it into space was being assembled they binned all of their components so they could ensure that this rocket was as high tolerance as possible. Sure any part off their shelves would be within tolerance and probably would have been fine, but they took the extra care to seek out only the best of the best for this launch. It's likely that JWSTs service life was increased by this extra care since the rocket was able to place it almost perfectly on course with very little correction needed.

Pretty sure if a supernova went off at half-the-distance-to-the-Sun, no one would notice…

Cuz we’d all be obliterated.

The great filter is actually the absolute inevitability of a super nova restarting life, again for the 42 millionth time since the big bang. JK I made that up, but that would be pretty spooky right?