On May 13, 2017, Patrick Wiggins, public outreach educator for the University of Utah’s Department of Physics & Astronomy, and NASA solar system ambassador to Utah, spotted something unusual in the sky. He was looking at the spiral galaxy NGC 6946, known as the Fireworks Galaxy, in the Cygnus constellation over 22 million light-years away from his telescope at his home near Erda, Utah. He noticed a bright spot that he hadn’t seen before. By comparing what he was seeing with earlier photographs taken of the same galaxy, he realized he was witnessing a star explode. He had just discovered a supernova.