This week, students and staff at the University of College London discovered a star in supernova in another galaxy, M82, otherwise known as the cigar galaxy.
What’s truly amazing is this supernova occurred millions of years ago, but the light is only reaching Earth today. Talk about old news!
While this supernova can’t be seen by the naked eye, those with medium sized telescopes can easily spot it on a clear night.
This event occurred rather quickly as scene from this picture comparison below, showing what the galaxy looked 18 days before the supernova.
Maybe within our lifetime, we’ll witness a supernova in our own galaxy that will light up the sky!
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– Julia
