UC Berkeley

Amateur Astronomer Wins “Cosmic Lottery” as He Captures First Ever Photo of Exploding Star

An astronomer from Argentina became the first person to ever photograph a star as it began to explode, winning "the cosmic lottery."

In September of 2016, Victor Buso captured the moment in which a supernova flashed a brief light. Capturing the moment was something the Business Insider described as one-in-billion chances.

Buso did this without even trying, he located the star while testing out a new camera. He told Newsweek, "…among those in that region of the sky, it has a beautiful form with looping clouds, bright and dark."

After noticing one small difference between his photo and the ones he saw online, he reached out to scientists at UC Berkeley who confirmed Buso was the only known person to ever take a photo of the flash of light produced by an exploding star, SF Gate reports.

"It’s like winning the cosmic lottery," UC Berkeley astronomer Alex Filippenko told the Business Insider.

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