Astronomy: How to predict a supernova

Prophecies about the appearance of new stars in the sky are usually found in a mythical context. Now, however, a working group headed by Stephen A. Rodney of the University of South Carolina at Columbia is also trying to do so in the field. As the team writes in “Nature Astronomy”, a supernova will light up around 2037. However, those predictions are a bit deceptive: the team has already seen the star explode – presumably a Type Ia supernova. It occurred behind a group of galaxies, which acts as a gravitational lens and creates multiple images of the explosion that become visible at intervals. Three supernova images have already appeared one after another – but the fourth is still 16 years away.