Astronomers catch massive star's death from the first explosive moment

A Rare Glimpse of a Supernova’s First Light Captured 500 Million Light Years Away

Learn more about what the first few moments of a supernova look like and the international collaboration that helped with these findings.

A star 20 times the size of the sun died in a supernova — and telescopes around the world joined forces to watch it

A fleet of telescopes around the world just captured the first shocking moments of a supernova explosion in the most detailed-ever observations of their kind.The explosive event was first spotted by China's Einstein Probe space telescope as a flash of X-rays in March. Ground-based telescopes jumped in within the hour and quickly identified the flash as a supernova, a powerful explosion of a massive dying star. Before long, a big team of observat…

Astronomers witness the strange final moments of a massive star's supernova death

Astronomers have captured the death of a massive star from its first faint flash of X-rays, revealing an unusual explosion that may bridge the gap between ordinary supernovas and more extreme, gamma-ray-burst-producing stellar explosionsThe event began in March 2026, when China's Einstein Probe spacecraft detected a brief X-ray flash from a galaxy about 500 million light-years away. Follow-up observations identified the source, initially designa…

Astronomers Capture 'Exceptionally Rare' Star Explosion for Only the Second Time in 20 Years

In March, the Einstein Probe, a satellite made by the Chinese Academy of Sciences in partnership with the European Space Agency, detected a very brief flash of "soft X-rays" emitted by a galaxy about 500 million light-years away. Within an hour, ground-based telescopes, including several at National Science Foundation (NSF) NOIRLab facilities, began investigating the region, getting a front-row seat to bombastic and very special star death.

Radio waves revealed what happened before a star exploded

For the first time, astronomers have captured radio signals from a rare exploding star, exposing what happened in the years leading up to its death. The radio waves reveal that the star violently shed huge amounts of material shortly before it exploded, likely due to interaction with a nearby companion star. This discovery gives scientists a new tool to rewind the clock on stellar deaths. It also shows that some supernovae are far more dramatic …

Astronomers catch massive star's death from the first explosive moment

In March 2026, the Einstein Probe detected a brief flash of soft X-rays emitted from a galaxy about 500 million light-years away. The flash, dubbed EP260321a, immediately triggered a worldwide observing campaign. Within an hour, ground-based telescopes began monitoring the source, revealing a rapidly brightening supernova, later designated SN 2026gzf. Two teams of scientists used several NSF NOIRLab facilities to observe the event and monitor it…