Theoretically, scientists have managed to explain the death of a star by mere assumptions and static observations, but things changed on January 9, 2008 when Princeton University researcher Alicia Soderberg became the first one to catch live an actual stellar explosion.

With the help of NASA’s Swift gamma-ray burst satellite, she observed a sudden burst of X-rays while studying the remnants of a supernova in a nearby galaxy. It is for the first time that astronomers manage to record a supernova, and not just the afterglow.

The findings, which were published in the journal Nature, point to a burst of luck, since astronomers have been dreaming of seeing a live explosion, rather than just observe the remnants, but never managed to do so.

Soderberg herself said she felt like she had won the lottery. This is in fact the closest source to date that could lead to the understanding of how stars explode and what happens in the aftermath, and furthermore, it confirms the theory that supernovae are accompanied by X-ray bursts.

The death of a star, or a supernova, occurs when the core of a star stops generating energy and enters into a gravitational collapse. That usually is transposed into a massive explosion, as the core collapses, increasing temperature and density.

As the neutrons freed in the collapse process are absorbed by the star’s outer layer, they begin the explosion. Milliseconds before the explosion, the inward falling matter which starts to rebound generates an outward oriented shock wave.

It is still impossible to predict when and where a supernova will occur, but experts estimated that in the Milky Way, approximately three supernovae occur every century.

Although hard to predict, and with still a lot to learn about them, the future of supernovae astronomical observations is about to change, Soderberg explained, unveiling that a new generation of X-ray telescopes will be able to regularly spot such explosions.