It may look like a peaceful, tranquil place, but in fact the spiral galaxy below, known as 'The River' has been the scene of two two violent supernovae in the last 30 years, scientists said today. Called NGC 1187, the new images released today show the galaxy, which lies about 60 million light-years from Earth and was discovered by English astronomer William Herschel in 1784, in unprecedented detail. The apparently peaceful spiral galaxy pictured above in the constellation Eridanus -- the River -- has hosted two violent supernovae in the last 30 years, belying its tranquillity, astronomers said. Supernovae can occur at the end of a massive star's lifetime when its nuclear fuel is exhausted and gravity causes it to collapse on itself, producing a violent explosion that outshines a galaxy. Alternatively, they can also occur in a binary star system when a carbon-oxygen white dwarf pulls so much matter from a higher-mass companion star that the larger star collapses on itself. Source: The Coming Crisis
