And this is the resulting animated video they created of what they saw.

Scientists from Northwestern and the University of California were able to track a red supergiant in real-time during its final 130 days, watching the massive star’s rapid self-destruction and death throes before a violent explosion.

It was previously believed red supergiant stars remained calm and didn’t show any symptoms of approaching demise — like eruptions or luminous emissions — ahead of their collapse into a Type II supernova.

The scientists were able to create an animated video of what they witnessed when the star self-destructed and collapsed.

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