Stars can burn for billions of years, but each will eventually meet its end. Some will slowly dim to darkness, while others will explode in a fiery supernova. These cataclysmic events expel a stew of stellar material that coalesces into new celestial bodies. Hundreds of supernovae are found yearly, but what triggers such violent finales? And what secrets might we uncover in their vast remnants? Scientists now use these infernos to trace our cosmic history.
