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MACS J0138 Hubble and Webb Side-by-Side

A two-panel image shows the same galaxy grouping on the left and right. Two long, thin arcs curve partway around the grouping at about 3 o’clock and 6 o’clock. Light is most concentrated in two areas near the centers of the arcs. The arcs in the left panel appear yellowish. Three bright, orange-white dots located near the arcs are circled. The panel is labeled Hubble 2016. The arcs in the right panel appear orange. Two small, white dots in the lower arc are circled. The panel is labeled Webb 2023.

Left: In 2016 NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope spotted a multiply imaged supernova, nicknamed Supernova Requiem, in a distant galaxy lensed by the intervening galaxy cluster MACS J0138. Three images of the supernova are visible, and a fourth image is expected to arrive in 2035. In this near-infrared image, light at 1.05 microns is represented in blue and 1.60 microns is orange. Right: In November 2023 NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope identified a second multiply imaged supernova in the same galaxy using its NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) instrument. This is the first known system to produce more than one multiply-imaged supernova.

Credit Details

Hubble image: NASA, ESA, STScI, Steve A. Rodney (University of South Carolina) and Gabriel Brammer (Cosmic Dawn Center/Niels Bohr Institute/University of Copenhagen).

JWST image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Justin Pierel (STScI) and Andrew Newman (Carnegie Institution for Science). 

Read the story.

About the Object

  • R.A. Position
    R.A. PositionRight ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.
    01:38:02.16
  • Dec. Position
    Dec. PositionDeclination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.
    -21:55:22.41
  • Constellation
    ConstellationOne of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.
    Cetus
  • Distance
    DistanceThe physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs.
    About 10 billion light-years (distance to galaxy hosting the supernova at redshift z=2)

About the Data

  • Data Description
    Data DescriptionProposal: A description of the observations, their scientific justification, and the links to the data available in the science archive.
    Science Team: The astronomers who planned the observations and analyzed the data. "PI" refers to the Principal Investigator.

    This image was created with Webb data from proposal: 6549 (J. Pierel) and HST data from proposal: 14496 (A. Newman). Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI).

  • Instrument
    InstrumentThe science instrument used to produce the data.
    Hubble> WFC3/IR Webb> NIRCam
  • Exposure Dates
    Exposure DatesThe date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.
    18-19 July 2016, 05 December 2023
  • Filters
    FiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.
    Hubble> F105W, F160W Webb> F115W, F150W, F200W, F277W, F356W, F444W
  • Object Name
    Object NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
    MACSJ0138, Supernova Encore
  • Object Description
    Object DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.
    Lensed galaxy/supernova
  • Release Date
    December 21, 2023
  • Credit
    Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Justin Pierel (STScI), Andrew Newman (CIS)

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A two-panel image shows the same galaxy grouping on the left and right. Two long, thin arcs curve partway around the grouping at about 3 o’clock and 6 o’clock. Light is most concentrated in two areas near the centers of the arcs. The arcs in the left panel appear yellowish. Three bright, orange-white dots located near the arcs are circled. The panel is labeled Hubble 2016. The arcs in the right panel appear orange. Two small, white dots in the lower arc are circled. The panel is labeled Webb 2023.
Color Info
Color InfoA brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented.

These images are a composite of separate exposures acquired by the Hubble Space Telescope using the WFC3/IR instrument and the James Webb Space Telescope using the NIRCam instrument. Several filters were used to sample wide wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic (grayscale) image associated with an individual filter. In this case, the assigned colors are:   Left (Hubble) = Cyan: F105W, Orange: F160W Right (Webb) = Blue: F115W+F150W, Green: F200W+F277W, Red: F356W+F444W

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Details

Last Updated
Aug 28, 2025
Contact
Media

Laura Betz
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
laura.e.betz@nasa.gov

Image Credit

NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Justin Pierel (STScI), Andrew Newman (CIS)

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