The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) can be considered a cosmic detective which has been on the hunt for the explosive deaths of massive stars which occurred in the early universe.
Among these supernovas, they have found the earliest and furthest supernova ever discovered.
This supernova exploded at a time when the 13.8 billion-year-old universe was only 1.8 billion years old.
The Hubble Space Telescope had earlier allowed astronomers to see supernovas which were so distant that they existed at a time when the universe was in its "young adult" phase.
"We are trying to identify whether distant supernovas are fundamentally different from or very much like what we see in the nearby universe," he added.
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) can be considered a cosmic detective which has been on the hunt for the explosive deaths of massive stars which occurred in the early universe.
Till now, the telescope has discovered evidence of 80 new early supernovas. Among these supernovas, they have found the earliest and furthest supernova ever discovered.
This supernova exploded at a time when the 13.8 billion-year-old universe was only 1.8 billion years old.
The team of scientists studied the data collected by the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES) programme for finding this cluster of supernovas, which includes Type Ia blasts.
These kinds of blasts are called "standard candles" by astronomers and can be used for measuring cosmic distances.
Is JWST working as a supernova discovery machine?
Before the JWST started operating in the summer of 2022, just a handful of supernovas were discovered which dates back to when the universe was only 3.3 billion years old.
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However, the JADES sample contained various supernovas which exploded even further in the past. Some of them erupted when the universe was less than 2 billion years old.
In a statement, third-year graduate student at the Steward Observatory and the University of Arizona in Tucson and team member Christa DeCoursey said, "The JWST is a supernova discovery machine. The sheer number of detections plus the great distances to these supernovas are the two most exciting outcomes from our survey."
The JWST's unparalleled infrared sensitivity means that it has been finding supernovas almost everywhere it has looked in the cosmos.
The Hubble Space Telescope had earlier allowed astronomers to see supernovas which were so distant that they existed at a time when the universe was in its "young adult" phase.
Watch: Boeing to send Starliner space capsule with 2 astronauts' With the help of the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES) programme and the JWST telescope, astronomers are able to observe supernovas when the cosmos was in its "teens" or even "pre-teens."
"This is really our first sample of what the high-redshift universe looks like for transient science," said JADES team member Justin Pierel, who is also a NASA Einstein Fellow at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland.
"We are trying to identify whether distant supernovas are fundamentally different from or very much like what we see in the nearby universe," he added.
(With inputs from agencies)
