So Stan, can you give us an introduction to the field? What are supernovae, and why do astronomers study them?

Well, you know, the, the word kind of explains it, supernova.

Nova, um, a new star in the sky, and super, really, really bright, and, uh, you know, that's, that's how they operate.

We see suddenly a new, a new star appear in the sky.

About, um, 10 times in the last 2,000 years we've recorded them, though they've been going on for billions of years before that.

But it's kind of a misnomer because a supernova is not a, a new star.

It's actually the death of an old star.

So Stan, what are you most excited about in current supernovae research?