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Published online 20 September 2006 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news060918-7
Corrected online: 21 September 2006

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Super supernova breaks the rules

Bright explosion puts oddball stars in the spotlight.

A particularly brilliant supernova has cast a shadow on a basic assumption about the Universe — one that has helped astronomers get a handle on everything from the distance of stars to the rate at which the universe is expanding.

Astronomers have long relied on stellar explosions called type Ia supernovae to measure the Universe.

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