Webb observes the glowing embers of colliding neutron stars

Gamma-ray bursts are brief flashes of the most energetic form of light, reaching us from the distant Universe. They have their origin in stellar explosions, but the exact circumstances are still debated. Now a team of researchers including astronomers from the Niels Bohr Institute has used the James Webb Space Telescope to study a gamma-ray burst, which turned out to be the second-brightest ever seen.

The study, which has just been published in Nature, revealed the creation of the element tellurium which had not been recognized before.