Type II Supernovae

Astronomers have long thought Type II supernovae exploded from red supergiant stars. Now, that theory has been confirmed.

By comparing before and after photographs of an area of space that experienced such a blast, astronomers have found two cases where a red supergiant existed at the precise coordinates of a supernova before the blast, and nothing was at those coordinates after the explosion. That physical evidence, coupled with the physics of how science believes stars work, clinches a strong case for understanding the life cycle of stars that have roughly seven times the mass of the Sun.