Watching a star die before your very eyes
Stars have a lifespan. Sure it’s generally millions or billions of years, but still eventually its time to come to an end. Now when stars meet their maker, as it where, the results can be very impressive, they can explode (a supernova). Usually astronomers aren’t lucky enough to watch an explosion as it happens though. Too much out there to catch it. Well not this time. Wired reports that NASA just won the astro-lotto. Scientists were looking in the right spot in the right moment to catch a star exploding and were able to move a satellite into position to catch it all.
Why is this important? Watching stars explode, collapse, and die gives us great insight into how the Universe formed. Stars are part of the building blocks of the Universe and the debris from a supernova can form another star, planets, and many other forms of space stuff (yeah technical term, I know, sorry 
).
Goes to show you that being in the right place at the right time can be a really good thing.
Tags: supernovas, stars, astronomy
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