Update: A Bang for the Flash!  Update: A Bang for the Flash!
They did it. A large collaboration of scientists, watching the
spot in the constellation Leo where a humongous gamma ray burst
occurred in late April, have seen the giant supernova explosion
they were expecting after such a monumental event. Not only
that, but the explosion was so large and powerful that it
created the universe's oddest inhabitant – a black hole!  The
supernova explosion was of a sort called Type Ic. This is fancy
astronomer talk for an explosion with no hydrogen in it. This is
odd, since most stars (including our Sun) are made almost
entirely of hydrogen. In a star such as the one in question has
used up nearly all its hydrogen in thermonuclear fire, and what
it didn't use, it has now blown off into space.  Think of that!
A star so hot, so powerful, that it blows bunches of its own
mass off into space. What do I mean by bunches? How about three
Earths-worth of hydrogen every year!  Stars are big, but they're
not infinitely big. Ev