By Ron Cowen
Thanks to a lucky break and an overactive galaxy, astronomers have for the first time caught a massive star in the act of exploding. An X-ray outburst recently recorded by NASA’s Swift satellite suggests that researchers began viewing the violent demise of a star in the galaxy NGC 2770 just a few seconds after the first X rays arrived at Earth, and hours before the first visible-light fireworks.
![Thanks to a lucky break and an overactive galaxy, astronomers detect a supernova event earlier than ever before](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/7523.jpg?resize=300%2C202&ssl=1)
Most supernovas aren’t identified until they generate an outpouring of visible light, long after key information about the size and other properties of the collapsing star has vanished. The new finding suggests that astronomers using wide-angle X-ray telescopes could routinely witness the very beginnings of hundreds of supernova explosions each year, suggest Alicia Soderberg and her colleagues in an online posting.