An analysis of X-ray observations from the Japan-led Suzaku satellite indicates that an exploding star observed in 1604 by the German astronomer Johannes Kepler held a greater fraction of heavy elements than the sun.
Mingus - or more formally, SN SCP-0401 - is a Type Ia supernova with a redshift of 1.71, dating back 10 billion years. It's exceptional for its detailed spectrum and precision color measurement, unprecedented in a supernova so distant, says the team.
Astronomers reckon they've found the cause of the brightest stellar event ever recorded: a supernova first observed on April 30 1006 that continued to shine for three years.
NASA has released an image of a supernova (SN 2004dg) that occurred in NGC 5806, a spiral galaxy in the constellation Virgo (the Virgin) located approximately 80 million light years from Earth.
Astronomers have come up with two competing theories to explain a mysterious cosmic explosion first detected by NASA's Swift observatory on Christmas Day 2010.
Astrophysicist Rosanne Di Stefano compares it to the Hollywood blockbuster 'Speed' - a newly-described type of star that's destined to explode if it slows down.
Berkeley scientists this week discovered a new supernova, closer to Earth than any seen in the last 40 years, and believe they've spotted it within hours of its explosion.
While looking for something else entirely, Harvard-Smithsonian astronomers have discovered several double-star systems which are merging, and which may explode as supernovae in the astronomically near future.
