TOP 10 MOST IMPORTANT SUPERNOVAE

1. Old-school Supernovae

When it comes to dramatic star death scenes, Supernova remnant G1.9+0.3 represents one end of the spectrum: local and recent. On the far end of the spectrum, however, you can find such cosmically ancient explosions as the supernova discovered in 2009 by University of California's Jeff Cooke and his team of researchers.

The team used an image stacking technique to detect slight flashes of light amid the stars and found two supernovae, each estimated to be 11 billion years old. To put that in the necessary perspective, remember that the universe itself is thought to be only 13.7 billion years old. The findings still await further study and evaluation from other astronomers, but the news has still stirred quite a bit of excitement through professional and amateur stargazers alike.

All of human history is less than a speck of dust compared to the cosmos. Yet while supernovae drive this sobering point home rather succinctly, they also provide a bit of encouragement to a fleeting, small and mortal species. In this universe, one moment in time can ring out across cosmological epochs and achieve a kind of permanence.

To find out how everything began, read "How the Big Bang Theory Works" and learn how the first stars formed.

Image credit: Jeff Cooke/NASA