Scientists have captured the moment the shockwave of a supernova explosion breaks out through the surface of a doomed star for the first time, revealing what appears to be a surprisingly symmetrical detonation.

Seeing this moment in detail has previously been elusive because it's rare for a supernova to be spotted early enough and for telescopes to be trained on it — and when they have been, the exploding star has been too far away.

So, when supernova 2024ggi went boom on April 10, 2024 in the relatively nearby spiral galaxy NGC 3621, which is 22 million light-years away in the constellation of Hydra, the Water Snake, astronomer Yi Yang of Tsinghua University in Beijing knew he had to act.

He and his international team of colleagues, from China, Europe, the Middle East and the U.S. quic

See Full Page