Scientists get a rare peek inside of an exploding star

NEW YORK — Scientists for the first time have spotted the insides of a dying star as it exploded, offering a rare peek into stellar evolution.

Stars can live for millions to trillions of years until they run out of fuel. The most massive ones go out with a bang in an explosion called a supernova.

Using telescopes that peer deep into space, researchers have observed many such explosions. The cosmic outbursts tend to jumble up a dying star’s layers, making it hard for scientists to observe the inner structure.

But that wasn’t the case for the new discovery, a supernova called 2021yfj located in our Milky Way galaxy.

The collapsing star’s outermost layers of hydrogen and helium had peeled away long ago, which wasn’t surprising. But the star’s dense, innermost layers of silicon and sulfur