The galaxy NGC 300, home to the unusual system Binder and her colleagues studied. The spiral galaxy is over 6 million light years away.NASA/JPL-Caltech/OCIW
A star pretending to be a supernova mystery illustrates the importance of being in the right place at the right time. Such was the case in May 2010 when an amateur South African astronomer pointed his telescope toward NGC300, a nearby galaxy. He discovered what appeared to be a supernova—a massive star ending its life in a blaze of glory. After a star explodes as a supernova, it usually leaves behind either a black hole or a neutron star—the collapsed, high-density core of the former star. Neither should be visible to Earth after a few weeks. But this supernova—SN 2010da—still was.
“SN 2010da is what we call a ‘supernova impost...
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