Supernovae are simply stars which explode. ... To understand supernovae, we need to understand stars. ... In this stage our Sun will swell up hundreds of times its current size, swallowing the Earth, and glowing hundreds of times brighter than it is now. ... Stars more than 10 times the mass of our sun have much more exciting lives. ... A Type II supernova to be precise. ... Since 1995 two teams have been discovering these objects: Our team, the High-Z SN Search, and the Supernova Cosmology Project. ...