If a star explodes in the cosmos and no one is there to see it, does it really explode? Yes, it does — although it might do so in a rather unexpected way. After years of sleuthing, astronomers have discovered a new kind of stellar explosion that is still a bang but more at the whimpering end of the spectrum than a typical supernova. Their finding could explain forty years’ worth of astronomer reports of strange flashes coming from some white dwarf stars they couldn’t explain.
