JWST spots one of the most distant supernovas, AT 2026abck

The James Webb Space Telescope has found supernova AT 2026abck, whose light left about 12.5 billion years ago, roughly 1.15 billion years after the Big Bang. The explosion was caught just 4–10 days after it ignited, peaking at about 8 billion times the Sun's brightness.

• Light traveled 12.5 billion years; redshift z=5
• Peak brightness about 8 billion Suns, nearly a whole Milky Way
• Ejecta shell spans ~46 AU at over 16,000 °C
• Host galaxy ID101411 forms stars 10+ times faster than the Milky Way