James Webb Telescope Discovers Earliest Known Supernova

Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have potentially discovered the most distant supernova ever observed in the universe. This stellar explosion occurred when the universe was only 730 million years old.

The supernova is associated with a gamma-ray burst identified as GRB 250314A, which was first detected by the Space Variable Objects Monitor, a small X-ray telescope developed by China and France. The gamma-ray burst was observed in March and is significant as it provides insight into the early universe, which has seen few high-energy events from that time.

A.J. Levan, lead author of one of the studies and a professor at Radboud University in the Netherlands and the University of Warwick in the UK, expressed amazement at how accurately their predictions worked, illustrating the capabilities of JWST in observing individual exploding stars at such extreme distances.

The initial burst from GRB 250314A lasted around 10 seconds, categorizing it as a long-duration gamma-ray burst, which are believed to arise from the collapse of massive stars. Researchers had to analyze the light from the afterglow, the supernova, and the host galaxy to confirm their findings.

They noted that the host galaxy appeared to be compact and unusually old, with stars forming close to 200 million years after the Big Bang. The brightness of a supernova is linked to the amount of radioactive material ejected during the explosion, which in turn is connected to the mass of the star's core.

Interestingly, the supernova associated with GRB 250314A showed similarities to modern-day stellar explosions, suggesting that the stellar population in the early universe might not differ as significantly from that of today as previously thought.

Follow-up observations are planned for next year to further analyze the contributions of light from the supernova, afterglow, and host galaxy.