Scientists capture rare glimpse of exploding supernova star

By Dean Murray

Scientists have revealed for the first time a jaw-dropping early view of an exploding supernova .

Observations with the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) have revealed the explosive death of a star just as the blast was breaking through the star’s surface.

It offers new insights into the true shape of supernovae and shows that they display olive-shaped characteristics rather than spherical.

ESO said: "For the first time, astronomers unveiled the shape of the explosion at its earliest, fleeting stage. This brief initial phase wouldn’t have been observable a day later and helps address a whole set of questions about how massive stars go supernova ."

When the supernova explosion SN 2024ggi was first detected on the night of 10 April 2