James Webb telescope discovers ‘goddess of dawn’ supernova just 1 billion years after the Big Bang
Scientists have spotted a distant supernova triggered by a collapsing star just 1 billion years after the birth of the universe.
THE James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) captured images of the Type II supernova on September 1 and October 8, 2025. Nicknamed “Eos,” after the Titan goddess of dawn in Greek mythology, the supernova will help scientists understand how stars and galaxies evolve over billions of years, researchers reported January 7 on the preprint server. arXiv.
Death of the first stars
A supernova occurs when a massive star explodes at the end of its life. Type I supernovas include those that do not have hydrogen in their spectra, while Type II supernovas have traces of hydrogen. Regardless of their type, supernovas are not very common; only two to three occur per century in galaxies the size of the Milky Way.
In the new study, scientists used a phenomenon known as gravitational lens to capture images of the distant supernova. Gravitational lensing occurs when light passes through an area of space-time distorted by the immense gravity of a massive object, such as a black hole or galaxy cluster. Distortion amplifies this light, allowing scientists to spot objects that would be too dark to see otherwise.
The supernova was rich in hydrogen and its star exploded in an environment containing a very low concentration of elements heavier than hydrogen. In fact, the progenitor star probably contained less than 10 percent of these heavier elements than our own sun, the team found. This apparent lack of heavy elements further confirms the extremely early age of the supernova, as stellar fusion had not yet filled the universe with many heavy elements.
By analyzing the ultraviolet light emitted by the explosion, researchers determined that Eos is a Type II-P supernova. The light from a Type II-P supernova stays bright for some time after reaching its peak, before slowly fading out. (In contrast, Type II-L supernovas steadily diminish over time.) Eos is likely near the end of its luminosity plateau, the team found.
Scientists still need to observe more early supernovas to confirm whether Eos’ properties are typical of massive stars and supernovas of the era. But these findings could help scientists trace the evolution of stars and galaxies from the beginnings of the universe to today.
“The discovery of SN Eos represents a crucial step toward achieving the fundamental goals of JWST’s mission to understand the life and death of the first starsthe origins of the elements, as well as the assembly and evolution of the youngest galaxies,” the researchers wrote.
