Astronomers Witness Supernova's First Moments [News]

Wednesday, May 21, 2008 - 12:14 in Astronomy & Space

Astronomers have observed for the first time the thunderclap of x-rays that announces a star has exploded into a supernova. Researchers monitoring spiral galaxy NGC 2770, approximately 88 million light-years away, observed a brief but intense flash of x-rays in early January, followed by a prolonged afterglow of visible and ultraviolet light--the hallmark of a supernova. [More]

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