Finding Supernovae

These are a series of images showing a supernova discovered in a galaxy. We can see detailed features in nearby galaxies (like M101), but distant galaxies look like fuzzy blobs.

The first image was taken before the explosion and the rest of the images were taken afterwards over a period of days. Use the controls to pause, play, or move through these images one at a time. The supernova appears as a bright spot, but then it fades from view.