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Founded in 1944, the American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science develops philanthropic support for the Weizmann Institute in Israel, and advances its mission of science for the benefit of humanity.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/going-out-with-a-bang/
Jan 12, 2022...
REHOVOT, ISRAEL—January 12, 2021—In the not-so-distant past, the discovery of a supernova—or exploding star—was considered a rare occasion.
When Prof. Avishay Gal-Yam of the Weizmann Institute’s Particle Physics and Astrophysics Department was a doctoral student, he only located seven supernovas over the course of four years. But today, advanced measuring instruments and analytical methods make it possible to detect fifty such explosions daily. While these improved means may have made these celestial events somewhat less notable over the years, the greater number of observations has also increased the probability that researchers will spot rarer types of explosions that have so far existed only as theoretical constructs. Gal-Yam and his colleagues recently discovered a rare-type supernova that has never been observed before. Their findings are being published today in Nature.
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