By Ron Cowen
Sifting through archival images, astronomers have identified the star whose explosive demise was recorded by telescopes last year. It’s the third time scientists have observed what a particular star looked like before it was blown to smithereens and the first time that they’ve uncovered the origin of the most common type of supernova. The discovery confirms the accepted theory that type II supernovas are produced when elderly, bloated stars known as red supergiants run out of nuclear fuel and collapse.
A team led by Stephen Smartt of the University of Cambridge in England describes the find in the Jan. 23 Science.