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JWST Spots Record-Distant Supernova Tied to March Gamma-Ray Burst

Its light mirrors nearby examples, suggesting early massive stars died in ways we already know.

An illustration of supernova GRB 250314A as it was exploding (left) and then three months later, when Webb studied it (right).
Image
Artist depiction of a supernova. 
An image of space showing stars and galaxies with a box out in the top right quadrant showing the location of the supernova in the image. An inset zoomed-in image shows a red dot that represents the supernova.

Overview

  • A peer-reviewed study reports a supernova associated with GRB 250314A at redshift ~7.3, seen when the universe was about 730 million years old.
  • SVOM detected the long-duration burst on March 14, 2025, and ESO’s Very Large Telescope secured the extreme distance via spectroscopy.
  • JWST’s NIRCam observations roughly 110 days after the burst isolated excess light at the event’s location, revealing the supernova and ruling out a superluminous supernova.
  • Photometry and spectral behavior closely track the local prototype SN 1998bw, challenging expectations for markedly different explosions in low-metallicity early galaxies.
  • Researchers plan a second JWST epoch within one to two years to confirm the transient’s contribution and fully characterize the faint host galaxy; separately, an unrelated seven-hour GRB (250702B) remains unexplained.