87: Star Go Boom!

Some stars go out with a whimper, but others go with a bang — and what a bang! Supernovae are ludicrously energetic explosions, so you wouldn't want to see one up close. Astronomers to do spot them, in surprisingly large numbers — though usually they only get to observe them after they've lit up. Recently, however, researchers managed to get loads of data about one supernova in a not-too-distant galaxy *before* it went boom, thanks to a lucky intervention by this podcasts favourite space telescope …