WORLDTECHJames Webb images an 8.8-billion-year-old supernova that will recur in about 70 years
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Astronomers at the Space Telescope Science Institute report that high-resolution images from the James Webb Space Telescope show an exploding star that dates from 8.8 billion years ago. Thanks to gravitational lensing, the same event is expected to be visible again in about 70 years.
What the telescope recorded
The observations come from high-resolution images from the James Webb Space Telescope, which the Space Telescope Science Institute says captured an exploding star from 8.8 billion years ago. The images were taken in August 2025.
The telescope was launched in December 2021 as the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. It is a space-based infrared observatory and a joint effort of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.
Lensing offers a second look
According to the report, gravitational lensing will give astronomers another chance to view the same event in about 70 years. The account, which comes from a single outlet, does not describe the mechanism in further detail.
Earlier supernova observations
The telescope has already recorded supernovae in the distant universe. It has captured some of the earliest known examples, dated to just 730 million years after the Big Bang.
Scientists have also combined data from Hubble and JWST to help explain what have been called missing red supergiants, and JWST has spotted the Brightest of All Time (BOAT) supernova signature.
Open questions
- How much of the lensing timing has been independently checked?
- Will the predicted return of the event be observed as forecast?