Scientists have gotten a rare peek into a dying star, exposing its interior as it exploded

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. Latest Forecast

° F FEELS LIKE

HOURLY

DAILY RADAR TRAFFIC

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