If a giant star, sailing through the sea of space, were a battleship a million miles from stem to stern, and some spark set off its powder magazine, the result would be something like what happens when a star explodes as a supernova. Supernovae are the mightiest celestial cataclysms known to man. Last week astronomers at Mt. Wilson Observatory in California reported discovery and observation of a super-nova in the distant island universe NGC 4273. Although about a dozen supernovae have been found by chance on photographic plates, the one announced last week...
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