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LiveScience
LiveScience
Shreejaya Karantha

'We were amazed': Scientists using James Webb telescope may have discovered the earliest supernova in the known universe

An image of space showing stars and galaxies with a box out in the top right quadrant showing the location of the supernova in the image. An inset zoomed-in image shows a red dot that represents the supernova.

Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) may have discovered the most distant supernova in the universe. This stellar explosion, hosted by a very faint galaxy, occurred when the universe was only 730 million years old.

Besides adding a new potential record to JWST's already-impressive list, this detection provides insight into the origin of a superbright gamma-ray burst observed in March. These sudden, short-lived outbursts of gamma-rays are among the most powerful explosions in the universe.

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