A star exploded over the weekend. Or rather, the exploding star became visible to telescopes on Earth, and was spotted by a dedicated search for these stellar outbursts.
In the galaxy M66, about 35 million light-years from Earth, according to NASA, a star somewhere between 8 and 50 times the mass of the sun reached the end of its fuel supply. Without its internal furnace running, the star begins to implode. The in-falling material, combined with an increasingly hot core, caused the dying star to explode into a Type II supernova.
This particular supernova was spotted by the All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae (ASAS-SN, which is pronounced "assassin"). Using a total of eight telescopes in two different locations, ASAS-SN surveys the sky for the sudden appearance of very bright spots of light, which could be supernovas.
- See more at: http://www.space.com/33042-assassin-new-supernova-amateur-astronomer-photos.html#sthash.7ao6672m.dpufhttp://www.space.com/33042-assassin-new-supernova-amateur-astronomer-photos.html
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