Sunday, November 16, 2025

Astronomers Detect the Early Shape of a Star Exploding for the First Time

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. Credit: ESO/L. Calçada

Swift observations with the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) have revealed the explosive death of a star just as the blast was breaking through the star’s surface. For the first time, astronomers unveiled the shape of the explosion at its earliest, fleeting stage. This brief initial phase wouldn’t have been observable a day later and helps address a whole set of questions about how massive stars go supernova.



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