New Delhi: The James Webb Space Telescope has spotted a star dying within 730 million years of the Big Bang, after pointing towards a gamma-ray burst spotted in mid-March designated as GRB 250314A. Webb was also able to identify the host galaxy of the supernova, which is a first for such a distant event. Gamma-ray bursts are brief, lasting mere seconds or minutes, with supernovas increasing in luminosity over weeks before fading. This supernova however continued to increase in brightness for months. Webb turned to the source about three months after the initial detection, when scientists expected the supernova to peak in luminosity.

GRB 250314A with its host galaxy. (Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, A. Levan (IMAPP), Image Processing: A. Pagan (STScI)).

The initial detection was by

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