NASA’s Webb Telescope Locates Former Star That Exploded as Supernova
NASA
February 23, 2026
AI-Generated Deep Dive Summary
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has made a groundbreaking discovery by identifying the progenitor star of a supernova that exploded 40 million years ago. The supernova, designated SN 2025pht, was detected on June 29, 2025, and astronomers quickly turned their attention to determining which star was responsible for this cosmic event. By analyzing pre-supernova images of the galaxy NGC 1637 captured by Webb, scientists pinpointed a single red supergiant star as the source. This marks the first time Webb has successfully identified a supernova progenitor, and the findings were published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.
The team combined data from both the James Webb Space Telescope and the Hubble Space Telescope to characterize the star. Before the explosion, the red supergiant was invisible to Hubble but visible to Webb due to its infrared capabilities. After the supernova, Hubble captured the glowing aftermath, providing a detailed view of the event. This collaboration between the two telescopes allowed astronomers to confirm that the star’s extreme redness and surrounding dust were key factors in its invisibility prior to the explosion.
The discovery also sheds light on a long-standing mystery
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Originally published on NASA on 2/23/2026