Supernova: the cosmic bonfire

The paper concerns the supernova 1987A, found this February, and located in the Large Megallanic Cloud. Many astronomical studies have been carried out on this supernova to try to understand both how and why the star exploded. A description is given of the events leading up to the discovery of the supernova, including the detection of neutrinos from the supernova in tanks buried far underground. The progenitor star was identified as Sanduleak -690 202, and a biography of this star prior to its explosion is outlined. Astronomical studies have tried to calculate the conditions in the heat of the star's collapsing core, to determine the dynamics of the explosion, and to account for the brightness observations of the supernova. (UK)