The shockwave generated by the explosion of an ageing giant star has been observed by an international team of astronomers for the first time.
A supernova occurs when a star collapses in on itself. Astronomers have theorised a shockwave was part of this process. The shockwave was observed when a red giant exploded.
The star was 270 times the radius of our Sun and 750 million light years away.
The discovery, accepted for publishing in the Astrophysical Journal, will help scientists understand the life cycle of stars, said study co-author Brad Tucker of the Australian National University.
This is the first time we are seeing this in the normal visible colours, and we now know it happens.
Here the insane video:
Shock Breakout and Early Light Curves of Type II-P Supernovae Observed with Kepler; P. M. Garnavich, B. E. Tucker, A. Rest, E. J. Shaya, R. P. Olling, D. Kasen, A. Villar. arXiv.org
