Students at the University College of London happened to chance upon a supernova 12 million light-years away in Messier 82, while attending a telescope workshop.
The International Astronomical Union’s Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams, an organization that catalogues supernovae, says spectral analysis suggests it is a Type 1a supernova, created by a white dwarf star pulling matter off a larger neighboring star until the entire system becomes unstable and explodes.