A star is exploding 45 million light-years away — here's how you can see it

An extraordinary exploding star has been spotted in a distant galaxy, and astrophotographers are racing to capture it before it fades from view.

The supernova, called SN 2026aaiv, was first seen by the ATLAS survey on Sept.

1 in NGC 7331 (also known as Caldwell 30), a spiral galaxy about 45 million light-years away in the constellation Pegasus, visible in the Northern Hemisphere and at mid-latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere.

That makes this supernova a prime target for amateur astrophotographers and astronomers worldwide to capture an image of this rare event.

Hundreds of astrophotographers have already captured it, including Andrew McCarthy, who posted his image on Instagram on Sept.

7 with the message, "As luck would have it, I happened to be in the middle of a massive project with this galaxy, and caught the supernova." He shot four hours of data, two before and two after the supernova, as part of a 100-hour project.

"The final image will be EPIC!" he said.

A post shared by Andrew McCarthy (@cosmic_background) A photo posted by Tom Masterson, Mountain Operations Manager at the Mount Wilson Observatory, also captured it on Sept.

10 using a 60-inch telescope.

A post shared by Los Angeles Astronomical Society (@la.astronomical.society) A photo posted by What you'll need to find SN 2026aaiv At magnitude 15.7 on Sept.

11, 2026, SN 2026aaiv is relatively dim, but still brightening.

Many of the images posted online were captured with large professional telescopes or remote telescopes in dark regions.

However, you can find and photograph SN 2026aaiv with relatively modest equipment.

You'll need a telescope or large binoculars to see NGC 7331 (at magnitude 10) at all, but the supernova is dramatically more challenging visually.