Scientists capture earliest-ever view of supernova exploding in unusual olive-like shape

Supernova explosions are rapid. REPRESENTATION PIC/GETTY IMAGES

Scientists have observed for the first time the very early stages of a supernova - the death of a star - with a massive star exploding in a distinctive olive-like shape.

They used the European Southern Observatory's Chile-based Very Large Telescope to observe the supernova, which involved a star roughly 15 times the mass of our sun residing in a galaxy called ‘NGC 3621' about 22 million light-years from Earth in the direction of constellation Hydra.

The shape of such explosions has been hard to nail down because of how rapidly they take place, so it took quick action with this supernova. The team thus was able to observe the explosion just 26 hours after the initial detection and 29 hours after material from inside the star first broke through the stellar surface.

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