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Rethinking last century's closest, brightest supernova
01-09-2007 · EurekAlert!February 2007 marks the 20th anniversary of the nearest and brightest supernova humans have seen in 400 years. Called SN1987A, it burned for weeks in the Large Magellanic Cloud, and provided astronomers with new information that forced them to rethink theories of how massive stars explode. Now UC Berkeley astronomer Nathan Smith says that theory needs rethinking again. Exploding stars like SN1987A may have been luminous blue variables, not blue supergiants.
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Keywords: rethinking, century, closest, brightest, supernova
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