Supernova

Supernova refers to several types of stellar (meaning star) explosions that produce extremely bright objects that decline to invisibility over weeks or months.

There are two possible routes to this end: either a massive star may cease to generate fusion energy in its core and collapse inward under the force of its own gravity, or a white dwarf star may accumulate material from a companion star until it reaches a critical mass and undergoes a thermonuclear explosion. In either case, the resulting supernova explosion expels much or all of the stellar material with great force. Exerpt from Wikipedia. Information held under GNU Free Documentation License.