The Green Monster Hiding in Front of Cas A: JWST Reveals a Dense and Dusty Circumstellar Structure Pockmarked by Ejecta Interactions

Abstract

JWST observations of the young Galactic supernova remnant Cassiopeia A revealed an unexpected structure seen as a green emission feature in colored composite MIRI F1130W and F1280W images—hence dubbed the Green Monster—that stretches across the central parts of the remnant in projection. Combining the kinematic information from NIRSpec and the MIRI Medium Resolution Spectrograph with the multiwavelength imaging from NIRCam and MIRI, we associate the Green Monster with circumstellar material (CSM) that was lost during an asymmetric mass-loss phase. MIRI images are dominated by dust emission, but their spectra show emission lines from Ne, H, and Fe with low radial velocities indicative of a CSM nature. An X-ray analysis of this feature in a companion paper supports its CSM nature and detects significant blueshifting, thereby placing the Green Monster on the nearside, in front of the Cas A supernova remnant. The most striking features of the Green Monster are dozens of almost perfectly circular 1''–3'' sized holes, most likely created by interaction between high-velocity supernova ejecta material and the CSM. Further investigation is needed to understand whether these holes were formed by small 8000–10,500 km s ⁻¹ N-rich ejecta knots that penetrated and advanced out ahead of the remnant's 5000–6000 km s ⁻¹ outer blast wave or by narrow ejecta fingers that protrude into the forward-shocked CSM. The detection of the Green Monster provides further evidence of the highly asymmetric mass loss that Cas A's progenitor star underwent prior to its explosion.