Supernova story continues, just like science journalism

Some stories are just too good to let go. Ian Shelton first spotted supernova 1987A on the evening of Monday, February 23, 1987. A notice announcing the discovery appeared in the issue of Science News that went to the printer that Wednesday — and articles followed in each of the next three issues, with more than a dozen stories about the stellar explosion over the course of the year. “It’s like Christmas,” said astrophysicist Stanford Woosley. “More exciting than Woodstock,” said astrophysicist John N. Bahcall. Thirty years later, we are still writing about 1987A, because there’s still so much to say. “The primary ring has only gotten more intriguing with age,” Christopher Crockett writes in our