Astronomy
Detecting Neutrinos from Supernova Explosions
Quick fact
The 1987 supernova in the Large Magellanic Cloud emitted a neutrino burst that was detected just hours before the light arrived, even though 99% of the explosion's energy was carried by neutrinos.
Why this is interesting
When a massive star explodes, it releases more energy in a few seconds than all the stars in the universe combined—but almost all of that energy is carried away by ghostly particles that barely interact with matter. How can we possibly detect these elusive messengers from across the galaxy?