Images of star exploding four times captured by astronomers

Australian researchers were part of team able to capture images because of gravitational lensing, which magnified a supernova 9.3bn light years away

Australian researchers were among a team that captured images of the same star exploding four times, thanks to its location behind a massive cluster of galaxies.

The gravitational pull of the galaxies meant light and time were bent around them, creating a cosmic magnifying glass in a process known as gravitational lensing, which was first predicted by Albert Einstein's theory of relativity. This magnified the supernova, which at 9.3bn light years away would have been too distant for the Hubble space telescope to detect were it not for this lensing effect.