supernovas

Latest in supernovas

This artist's concepts shows a hypothesized event known as a superkilonova. A massive star explodes in a supernova (left), which generates elements like carbon and iron. In the aftermath, two neutron stars are born (middle), at least one of which is believed to be less massive than our Sun. The neutron stars spiral together, sending gravitational waves rippling through the cosmos, before merging in a dramatic kilonova (right). Kilonovae seed the universe with the heaviest elements, such as gold at platinum, which glow with red light.

Space Telescope

Two neutron stars may have formed the first known ‘superkilonova’

A scan of an Arabic manuscript of the dīwān of Ibn Sanā' al-Mulk dating back to 1181-1182 (left). The Annual perseid meteor seen in the sky on August 14, 2023. The meteors have a radiant bordering on Cassiopeia and Camelopardalis (right).

Medieval Arabic texts help researchers track down explosive star deaths

By Margherita Bassi

This artist’s impression shows a star going supernova. About 22 million light-years away the supernova, SN 2024ggi, exploded in the galaxy NGC 3621. Using the ESO’s Very Large Telescope, astronomers managed to capture the very early stage of the supernova when the blast was breaking through the star’s surface. Observing the breakout so early on — 26 hours after the supernova was first detected — revealed its true shape. The supernova broke out in an olive-like form. This marks the first ever observation of the shape of a supernova explosion at this very early stage.

Space Telescope

Newborn supernova spotted only hours after its explosive birth

SN 2021yfj is a new kind of supernova, challenging our understanding of stellar evolution. Its progenitor lost its outer shells well before the supernova happened and only consisted of its oxygen/silicon core — unlike any known star in the Milky Way. The dying, stripped-to-the-bone star experienced extreme mass loss episodes that led to the ejecting of material rich in silicon (grey), sulfur (yellow) and argon (purple).

Violent supernova spilled a star’s ‘guts’ before exploding

A study led by the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA) has captured the explosive interaction between a black hole and a nearby massive star (blue), as depicted in this artist's conception. As the separation between the star and the black hole decreased, the black hole's intense gravity pulled gas and dust off of the star into a disk. Before the star was able to swallow the black hole, gravitational stress from the black hole triggered the star's explosion. Collisions between the stellar explosion and shells of material from earlier interactions located above and below the disk powered a dramatic re-brightening event. This artist’s graphic shows the massive star and black hole before the supernova explosion, when the star’s shape is stretched by gravitational forces from the black hole. Credit: Melissa Weiss/CfA

A black hole ripped apart a supernova

Artist's ilustration of the largest gamma-ray burst every observed

The brightest explosion ever seen is still baffling astronomers

Underwater Rocks and Pebbles on the Seabed

A radioactive deep sea mystery may have cosmic origins

Red, horizontal splotches represent the center of the Milky Way galaxy with a greyscale background. A bright yellow dot represents the black hole at the center.

See the heart of the Milky Way as it’s never been captured before

By Maggie Galloway

The mysterious burst AT2018cow

Astronomers may have an origin story for ‘The Cow,’ a mysteriously powerful cosmic blast

By Leto Sapunar

An illustration of a quasar in space, blinding light that shoots out top and bottom, with matter swirling around perpendicularly.

Blindingly bright black holes could help cosmologists see deeper into the universe’s past

By Charlie Wood

An illustration of a blue, circular star with space matter circling around it in an accretion disk, plus beams of light shooting vertically out of the star.

This could be a brand new type of supernova

By Leto Sapunar

An image of the black expanse of space, with stars and a galaxy in the middle. A single small star is circled in white.

Astronomers just confirmed a new type of supernova

A side by side comparison of the star Betelgeuse in January and December of 2019. The star is was dimmer in December 2019.

We finally know why the Betelgeuse star dimmed—and it’s not what you think

By Charlie Wood

The Kepler supernova was spotted in 1604. Four centuries later, material from the explosion is still expanding outward at more than 20 million miles per hour.

Stars are dying all across the galaxy—why don’t we see them?

By Charlie Wood

An X-ray and optical composite image of a detonating star.

Ancient supernovas may have pierced moon rocks with star shrapnel

By Charlie Wood

an image of the crab nebula

NASA’s top observatories teamed up to capture an imploding star in captivating 3D

By Jessica Boddy

We really don’t know when Betelgeuse is going to explode

By Rachel Feltman

This fluffy ball contains the story of the universe

This fluffy ball contains the story of the universe

A bizarre new theory connects supernovae explosions with humans’ ability to walk upright

Space Telescope

A bizarre new theory connects supernovae explosions with humans’ ability to walk upright

By Neel V. Patel

a picture of space with a large circular smear of yellow light at the center

An exploding space cow could be linked to a newborn black hole

By Neel V. Patel