We were in the right place, at the right time...
... said a space observer, Alicia Soderberg. Apparently, she and her co-worker Edo Berger noticed a strong blast of x-rays somewhere in space. Well, not "somewhere", they were observing an another object at the galaxy, identified as NGC 2770, prior to noticing the explosion. The team promptly alerted 8 other telescopes to turn their attention towards the peculiar x-ray blast. The event was a one-of-a-kind experience -- a supernova, just starting. Scientists were able to observe the entire progress of the dying star. Actually, it is said that the supernova was born. It sounds a bit strange to me, because supernovae are the explosions of massive stars, that run out of nuclear fuel and collapse, leaving either a black hole or a brown dwarf behind them. So the birth of a supernova is the death of a star. The beggining of an end. But after the end, something is still left from the star. So the end is not the end, but the beggining... I won't go deeper into that.
The first supernova, witnessed from the very beggining. Luckily, a theory that a powerfull x-ray blast is the sign of a beginning supernova, has been made over 4 decades ago. Thanks to that, the scientists were able to effectively react and properly document the supernova. Hopefully, the accumulated material will provide insight on the properties of massive stars. In addition, now scientists will know how strong approximately does the x-ray blast have to be, and maybe they'll spot even more supernovae. One discovery always leads to an another one...