simple facts
What is it: Artist impression of Supernova SN 2024ggi
Location: Located 22 million light-years away in the constellation Hydra.
Share date: November 12, 2025
On April 10, 2024, the Asteroid Earth Impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) detected the first light from the explosion of a massive star with approximately 12 to 15 times the mass of the Sun. Just 26 hours later, astronomers pointed the Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile at the supernova, as this initial brief window provided a rare opportunity to study the early stages of a star’s death.
This amazing image, interpreted by an artist, shows a supernova explosion revealed by VLT data. Thanks to some quick observations, astronomers were able to detect the shape of the explosion in the early moments. This stage would not have been visible if observed just one day later.
The supernova explosion, known as SN 2024ggi, occurred in the galaxy NGC 3621, about 22 million light-years away in the constellation Hydra. Images taken by VLT on April 11, 2024 show the location of this explosion within the galaxy.
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Massive stars maintain their nearly perfect spherical shape due to a delicate balance between the inward pull of their own gravity and the outward force of radiation from nuclear fusion produced at their centers. When this balance is disrupted, the star dies. Eventually gravity overcomes the pressure supporting its core and the star collapses under its own weight.
This collapse pulls all the outer layers inward. These outer layers repel, producing powerful shock waves that tear the star apart. When the shock breaks through the star’s surface, a large amount of energy is released, dramatically increasing the brightness of the supernova. But how that impulse is formed and transmitted outward has long been one of the most debated fundamental questions.
After the explosion occurs, there is a short period of time before it begins interacting with its surroundings, during which astronomers can get a glimpse of the shape of that initial “explosion.” Scientists using VLT were the first to capture this shape using spectropolarimetry, a technique that classifies light by wavelength and reveals the direction in which the light waves vibrate.
Data from VLT’s FORS2 instrument, the only facility in the Southern Hemisphere capable of making such measurements, showed that the initial light from an exploding star is not emitted evenly in all directions. Instead, the initial shock was extended along one axis, like an olive. That is, the explosion was not perfectly spherical.
As the explosion expanded, its light began to reveal the interaction of the supernova with the gas surrounding the star. Around day 10, the star’s hydrogen-rich outer layers became visible, and these layers were found to be aligned on the same axis as the first shock. This means that the core explosion had a stable, directional shape from the beginning, suggesting an underlying mechanism that provides consistent directionality.
The study of this unprecedented view rules out some current supernova models, upholds others, and provides new details about the catastrophic death of massive stars.
The study was published Nov. 12 in the journal Science Advances.
For more sublime space images, check out this week’s space photo archive.
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