The explosion from a 10 billion-year-old supernova is still soaring through space, and in just a few short years, it'll reappear for everyone to see from Earth. Outer space is truly mesmerizing. Astronomers are constantly trying to learn new things about it, discover new areas of interest, and explore faraway planets/galaxies that may hold unknown secrets. Whether it's a rover collecting samples on Mars or the Hubble telescope photographing awe-inspiring galaxies, it seems like there's always something new to talk about.

One of space's most fascinating occurrences is that of a supernova — essentially the explosion of a star. Stars go through various stages throughout their life. As one is nearing its end, it becomes unstable and can potentially explode. While supernovas aren't easily seen from our home in the Milky Way, they're a semi-regular occurrence in any galaxy and something scientists can glean a lot of information from.

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Thanks to a recent report from Nature, scientists have confirmed that one such supernova will be visible in the Earth's sky in just a few short years. The supernova in question is one that happened more than 10 billion years ago. Long before the existence of humans or even the Solar System itself, this particular supernova (dubbed 'Requiem') triggered a truly massive explosion. Light from Requiem has been traveling through space ever since then, and between 2016 and 2019, light from it was briefly visible from Earth. Thankfully, astronomers will soon get another chance to observe Requiem's light when it reappears in 2037.

How Scientists Know This Supernova Is Returning

Picture of a supernova taken by the Hubble Telescope
Photo credit: NASA/ESA

This is all very exciting, though it does pose an interesting question: How in the world does a supernova stop by Earth, leave for a few years, and then return? As explained by astronomer Steven Rodney (speaking to Gizmodo), it has to do something called 'gravitational lensing.' Light from a supernova can soar through space in a straight line, but as it passes by large objects, it can bend and swerve around said object. According to Rodney, "It is like a train that has to go down into a deep valley and climb back out again. It gets slowed down on the way in and the way out, which adds about an extra 20 years to its roughly 10-billion-year journey."

This is exactly what happened with Requiem. At one point during its journey through space, light from the explosion had to bend itself to get around a large galaxy cluster — with some of the light beams becoming quite long. It's this varied bending that caused some light to be visible from Earth in 2016 and why more of it should appear in 2037 (give or take a couple of years).

Although it might be difficult to look up and see the supernova with the naked eye, this does give astronomers another chance to observe Requiem with high-powered telescopes. They'll be able to take more photos, get another look at Requiem's billion-year-old light beams, and they can use this data to tackle other projects down the road.

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Source: Nature, Gizmodo