Do not worry---our Sun won't be exploding anytime soon...
A sequence of ultraviolet images released in June 2008 shows a supernova from start to finish. Just before the explosion, the host galaxy (top left) appears relatively quiet. Then a bright ultraviolet flash called a shock breakout (top right) signals that the core of a red supergiant star has collapsed.

Moments later the flash is mostly gone, although remnants of the star continue to spread outward (bottom left). The debris expands quickly, heating up again and becoming brighter (bottom right). A few days later it would be ten times the size of the original star and would be visible to supernova hunters.

The swaths of green represent organic molecules, called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are illuminated by light from nearby star formation, while the thermal emission, or heat, from warm dust is rendered in red. Star-forming regions appear as swirls of red and yellow, where the warm dust overlaps with the glowing organic molecules. The blue specks sprinkled throughout the photograph are Milky Way stars. The bluish-white haze that hovers heavily in the middle panel is starlight from the older stellar population towards the center of the galaxy.

The patches of black are dense, obscuring dust clouds impenetrable by even Spitzer's super-sensitive infrared eyes. Bright arcs of white throughout the image are massive stellar incubators. The bluish-white haze that hovers heavily in the middle panel is starlight from the older stellar population towards the center of the galaxy.

Click on Images to launch your eyeballs into the Milky Way :*)