Oldest supernova in universe detected by Webb telescope

Supernova older than previous records by over a billion years

Previously, the oldest recorded supernova was from a star that exploded when the universe was 1.8 billion years old – more than a billion years younger. In the image, the gamma-ray burst appears as a small red dot at the center of the enlarged frame on the right.

“This observation also demonstrates that we can use Webb to find individual stars when the Universe was only 5 percent of its current age. There are only a handful of gamma-ray bursts in the last 50 years that have been detected in the first billion years of the Universe. This particular event is very rare and very exciting, '' co-author Andrew Levan wrote in the ESA's press release.

Scientists noted that the explosion 13 billion years ago is similar in many ways to modern supernovae. Although this may not sound surprising, scientists expected greater differences because early stars likely contained fewer heavy elements, were more massive, and had shorter lifespans, said co-author Nial Tanvir.

Small red dot at the center of the enlarged frame – the oldest object you will ever see (photo: NASA)

International collaboration of scientists

The discovery was the result of international coordination. First, NASA’s Swift Observatory pinpointed the location of an X-ray source, which helped Webb carry out further observations and determine the distance to the star.

Then a telescope in the Canary Islands confirmed that the gamma-ray burst could be extremely distant. A few hours later, the ESO telescope in Chile estimated the star’s age – 730 million years after the Big Bang. All of this happened in less than 17 hours.

The research team received permission for further observations with Webb to study gamma-ray bursts in the early universe and the galaxies that produced them. “That glow will help Webb see more and give us a 'fingerprint' of the galaxy,” Levan predicts.

Artistic rendering of supernova (photo: ESA)