Scientists watched a star explode in real time for the first time ever
By Brandon Specktor published about 8 hours ago
Supernovas may be way more violent than we thought.
An artist's rendition of a red supergiant star transitioning into a Type II supernova, emitting a violent eruption of radiation and gas on its dying breath before collapsing and exploding. (Image credit: W. M. Keck Observatory/Adam Makarenko)
Astronomers have watched a giant star blow up in a fiery supernova for the first time ever — and the spectacle was even more explosive than the researchers anticipated.
Scientists began watching the doomed star — a red supergiant named SN 2020tlf and located about 120 million light-years from Earth — more than 100 days before its final, violent collapse, according to a new study published Jan. 6 in the Astrophysical Journal. During that lead-up, the researchers saw the star erupt with bright flashes of light as great globs of gas exploded out of the star's surface.
These pre-supernova pyrotechnics came as a big surprise, as previous observations of red supergiants about to blow their tops showed no traces of violent emissions, the researchers said.
"This is a breakthrough in our understanding of what massive stars do moments before they die," lead study author Wynn Jacobson-Galán, a research fellow at the University of California, Berkeley said in a statement. "For the first time, we watched a red supergiant star explode!"
More:
https://www.livescience.com/first-supernova-real-time-observations?utm_source=notification
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You never know who might appear 
I doubt it will happen in the time I have remaining on the planet, but you never know. 
It may have already happened and the light hasn't reached earth yet. It's a mere 550 light years away, so who knows.
that this happened 120 million years ago!!!
Just incredible.
