\u201cThis is nature\u2019s own telescope,\u201d Joel Johansson, study lead author and an astrophysicist at Stockholm University in Sweden, said in a statement<\/a>. \u201cThe magnification lets us study a supernova at a distance where detailed observations would otherwise be impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n Distortions in spacetime <\/p>\n Astronomical observations are limited to the speed of light\u2014that is, the things we \u201csee\u201d from the universe are a product of how far they are in terms of light. So if light bumps into anything along the way, that also shows up in our observations. Many times, that appears as unfortunate noise in the data.<\/p>\n But other times, these obstructions are large enough to bend spacetime with their gravitational pull, subsequently making light travel alongside the newly bent path. From this distortion\u2014a gravitational lens\u2014astronomers can extract valuable information about that section of the universe.<\/p>\n Not a bad signal <\/p>\n In the case of SN 2025wny, the two intervening galaxies magnify and split the light from the supernova. The separated light signals each enter the view of Earthbound telescopes at different times, making the supernova manifest as a weird, spotty image.<\/p>\n \u201cI couldn\u2019t believe my eyes when I saw the data; I thought that it must have been an artifact from the camera,\u201d admitted Jacob Wise, study co-author and a PhD student at Stockholm University, in the release. \u201cHowever, when I carefully looked at our data from previous nights, I could still clearly see the multiple lensed images of the supernova.\u201d<\/p>\n Wise and his advisor, Dan Perley, quickly sent their observations to the Keck Observatory in Hawaii, which collected and confirmed the spectra of the strange signal. Indeed, the team was looking at an extremely bright supernova sitting impossibly far away.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s always exciting to get a request for a very rapid response to a transient event like this,\u201d commented John O\u2019Meara, chief scientist at Keck, in a statement<\/a>. \u201cKeck was ready to respond, and we were happy to deliver and participate in this breakthrough.\u201d<\/p>\n New explosions, new questions <\/p>\n SN 2025wny is the first superluminous supernova to be observed by gravitational lensing. That has some important implications. For one, the time differences between the lensed images represent a novel way to determine the universe\u2019s expansion rate, known as the Hubble constant. This constant is at odds with real-life observations, a mismatch referred to as the Hubble tension<\/a>.<\/p>\n Gravitational lensing of faraway objects could help point to \u201cwhether the tension reflects new physics or limitations in existing methods,\u201d the researchers explained in the statement. The team is already conducting follow-up observations with the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes, they added.<\/p>\n![\"Sn](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/sn-2025wny-transient-signal-comparison.png\"){kind=spacer}
Liverpool Telescope images from October 4, 2025 (left panel) and the four lensed images of SN 2025wny (right panel) after subtracting the lens and host galaxy light from archival images. Credit: Stockholm University <\/p>\n