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A Supernova Arrived. Its Next Image Is Due in Seventy Years.
JWST spectroscopy identifies SN Ares as the highest-redshift spectroscopically confirmed Type IIb supernova, with two lensed images predicted decades ahead.
Summary
JWST spectroscopy identifies SN Ares as the highest-redshift spectroscopically confirmed Type IIb supernova, with two lensed images predicted decades ahead.
SN Ares appeared in one image of a massive host galaxy triply lensed by the MACS J0308.9+2645 cluster. JWST/NIRSpec detected helium, hydrogen-alpha and Paschen-beta features at a spectroscopic redshift of 1.276, leading the team to classify it as a Type IIb supernova—the highest-redshift member of that class identified spectroscopically in the study. Comparison with local events places the spectrum about 34 rest-frame days after radioactive peak, with uncertainty of roughly nine to ten days. A JWST-informed lens model predicts two future images near the cluster center in at least 70 years, magnified by about five and 1.5 times. Those arrival times and magnifications remain model predictions awaiting improved cluster constraints.
Why it matters
JWST spectroscopy identifies SN Ares as the highest-redshift spectroscopically confirmed Type IIb supernova, with two lensed images predicted decades ahead.
Limits and context
- Those arrival times and magnifications remain model predictions awaiting improved cluster constraints.
Key claims
JWST spectroscopy identifies SN Ares as the highest-redshift spectroscopically confirmed Type IIb supernova, with two lensed images predicted decades ahead.
Qualification: Those arrival times and magnifications remain model predictions awaiting improved cluster constraints.
Evidence: source-2026-10-27-014
Sources
- arXiv preprint 2610.33161, original v1arXiv · primary research
Corrections
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