A star 20 times the size of the sun died in a supernova - and telescopes around the world joined forces to...

Key Points:

• A global network of telescopes captured the first detailed observations of a supernova's initial shock breakout, detected initially as an X-ray flash by China's Einstein Probe in March.
• The supernova, located 500 million light-years away, was classified as a Type Ic broad-lined (Ic-BL) supernova with jets moving near light speed, but notably exhibited the faintest shock breakout ever seen for this type and showed no associated gamma-ray bursts.
• The Vera C. Rubin Observatory played a key role by capturing the explosion during its sky survey, enabling long-term monitoring of the supernova's evolution over years to come.
• Follow-up observations from multiple instruments, including the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument and Gemini telescopes, confirmed the supernova type and provided insights into the star's structure and environment prior to explosion.
• The progenitor star was a massive Wolf-Rayet star about 20 times the Sun's mass that had shed most of its hydrogen and helium in episodic ejections before collapsing, creating observable shells of material around it.