James Webb captures supernova that exploded 13 billion years ago
The James Webb Space Telescope has, for the first time, recorded the light of a supernova that exploded about 13 billion years ago — roughly 730 million years after the Big Bang. The explosion was accompanied by the gamma-ray burst GRB 250314A; the burst was detected by the SVOM and Swift satellites.
By Tetiana Suchkova-Ladik
December 11, 2025 · 1 min read
Discovery and timing
The James Webb Space Telescope captured light from a supernova that exploded more than 13 billion years ago — roughly 730 million years after the Big Bang. The event was accompanied by a gamma-ray burst designated GRB 250314A.
The flash was first detected by the SVOM and Swift satellites in March 2025, and ground-based observatories confirmed the event's distant nature. For a closer study, astronomers aimed the James Webb telescope at the source: on July 1 it recorded the light of the supernova that had just reached Earth.
Host galaxy and nature of the explosion
Researchers also spotted the galaxy where the explosion occurred, but it appears as only a few pixels in the images. In appearance it resembles other galaxies from that early period of the Universe; the supernova itself, by its characteristics, is similar to explosions of massive stars known in the present epoch.
Before this, the record for the most ancient recorded supernova belonged to an explosion that occurred about 1.8 billion years after the Big Bang.
Other reports from space
Separately, it was reported that NASA plans to develop a nuclear reactor for use on the Moon by 2030. In addition, the streaming service Netflix is set to broadcast rocket launches and NASA missions.
