We present follow-up observations of the day-long, repeating GRB 250702B with the Near Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) on board the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Through the identification of narrow hydrogen emission lines at a consistent redshift of z = 1. 036 0. 004, we calibrate the distance scale, and therefore the energetics, of this unique extragalactic transient. At this distance, the resulting γ-ray energy release is at least E⏒, ₈ₒ₎ = 2. 2 10^54\, erg. We find no evidence for ongoing transient emission at the GRB position, and exclude any accompanying supernova with a luminosity comparable to the Type Ic broad-line SN 2023lcr, though we are unable to constrain fainter events. The inferred rate of such events, assuming at most one in the lifetime of Fermi, suggests that such bursts are very rare, with volumetric rates >1, 000 times lower than normal high luminosity long GRBs and > 10⁵ times lower than core collapse supernovae when corrected for beaming. Furthermore, we find that the host galaxy is unique amongst GRB host galaxies, and extremely rare in the general galaxy population, being extremely large, dusty and with high stellar mass. The identification of such an exotic GRB in such an unusual galaxy raises the possibility that the environment was important in the progenitor channel for this event.
Gompertz et al. (Fri,) studied this question.