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Giant Star Goes Supernova, Smothered by its own Dust (Artist’s Concept)

A giant star in a faraway galaxy recently ended its life with a dust-shrouded whimper instead of the more typical bang in this artist's concept based on data from Spitzer's Space Telescope.
PIA13478
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech
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Description

While searching the skies for black holes using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, astronomers discovered a giant supernova that was smothered in its own dust. In this artist's rendering, an outer shell of gas and dust -- which erupted from the star hundreds of years ago -- obscures the supernova within. This event in a distant galaxy hints at one possible future for the brightest star system in our own Milky Way.