Supernovas give you a warm fuzzy feeling
I don’t really have a lot to add, but I wanted to link to Phil Plait’s entry about the discovery of a new supernova. It’s a great story about how science gets done by real people.
I should add that, while I don’t often link to or comment on him, I’ve been a big fan of Phil’s since I read his book (also titled Bad Astronomy) a few too many years ago. I’d encourage anyone to read his debunking of pseudoscientific nonsense; the moon-landing “hoax” stuff being particularly choice.
Of course the most important questions goes unanswered. What is in a supernova?