"Hidden Supernova: Massive Weight Loss of Doomed Star Delayed Flash for Days"

A massive star that exploded in the Pinwheel Galaxy appears to have lost approximately one sun's worth of ejected mass during the final years of its life before going supernova. Amateur astronomer Kōichi Itagaki discovered the star, known as SN 2023ixf, and observations revealed a significant and unexpected amount of mass loss in the year prior to the explosion. The shape of the light curve indicated a delayed shock breakout, providing evidence for the presence of dense material from recent mass loss. This discovery sheds light on the behavior of massive stars in their final years before exploding.