The Secret of the Super Bright Supernova

Summary, almost four years ago, astronomers found a supernova, PS1-10afx, that was 30 times brighter than any other of it's class. They didn't see any abnormalities that would account of this huge magnitude difference and were confused. However, this mystery has now been solved. Then Dr Robert Quimby and his team had an idea that proved fruitful. They looked to see if we were seeing this supernova through a gravitational lens. As it turns out, there was an entire galaxy directly in from of the supernova that was bending the light around it and magnifying it. PS1-10afx is just a normal Type 1A supernova. 

This is will be useful knowledge for measuring cosmic distances since objects of known brightness like Type 1A supernovae are a good constant against which we can measure other objects in the night sky.


BBC News
Science

New Stellar Dust

Summary: A telescope in Chile has captured images of an incredibly young supernova with tons of fresh dust surrounding it. This is the first time astronomers have been privileged enough to see the beginnings of this cosmic dust. These observations help confirm the theory that cosmic dust can form as the result of a supernovae.


BBC News

The Universe's Violent Youth

Summary: Scientists at the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology found new evidence to support the prevalent theory of the universe having a violent stage mare than 10 billion years ago that was responsible for the initial creation of heavy elements. Using the Suzaku satellite they saw an even spread of iron between the galaxies. This means that iron was present in the intergalactic gas even before the Perseus cluster was formed; an observation which they speculate holds true for more than just this cluster. This would put the creation of these elements between 10 to 12 billion years ago, during a time of intense star formation and energetic black holes. Most of this iron was created by Type Ia supernovae that then rocketed out their material into space.

Symmetry

Nature

Cosmic ray origin confirmed

Summary: The Fermi telescope has confirmed that cosmic rays originate from the star explosions known as supernovae. They actually get accelerated toward Earth not by the explosion itself, but rather by the shock wave created after the explosion. (That's the part that looks beautiful in images!)
Scientists determined this by looking at characteristic particle decays. They know that pions decay into gamma rays which then travel toward Earth. Studying the gamma rays are ideal since they are not affected by magnetic fields and thus will point directly back to their source after being detected by Fermi.



BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21421449