The James Webb Space Telescope has discovered the oldest and most distant supernova ever seen — a stellar explosion that took place when the universe was just 1.8 billion years old.
The ancient starburst was uncovered among 80 others in a patch of sky that, from our perspective on Earth, is about the width of a grain of rice held at arm’s length.
Supernovae are transient objects, as their brightness changes over time. This makes the new batch of distant star explosions especially exciting, as studying them could provide key insights into unresolved questions of how the early universe grew. The researchers presented their findings June 10 at the 244th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Madison, Wisconsin.
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