A supernova is the biggest explosion that humans have ever seen. Each blast is the extremely bright, super-powerful explosion of a star. One type of supernova is caused by the “last hurrah” of a dying massive star. This happens when a star at least five times the mass of our sun goes out with a fantastic bang! Massive stars burn huge amounts of nuclear fuel at their cores, or centers. This produces tons of energy, so the center gets very hot. Heat generates pressure, and the pressure created by

Astronomers just watched a star explode – and saw its insides exposed. For the first time in history, scientists got a direct look inside a star at the moment it went supernova – revealing inner layers that had, until now, only existed in theory. A massive star 2.2 billion light-years away reached the end of its life and exploded in a brilliant burst of light. But something was off. When researchers analyzed the spectrum of light from the explosion, they didn’t see the usual lighter elements lik