Most supernovae fade. This one sang: its light rising and falling in a perfect rhythm that quickened as the star died. We have an idea as to why. Deep inside the wreckage, a newborn magnetar is dragging spacetime itself and the matter around it into a slow wobble like a top, and each turn of that wobble reaches us as another beat of light. If true, it would be the first time we have ever seen such a thing.
We are not certain it is the whole story, which is exactly why we're eager to learn more. Whatever is making these explosions chirp, the explanation runs through some of the most extreme physics in the universe: nuclear matter, magnetic fields beyond anything we can imagine, gravity strong enough to twist space and time itself. Our goal is simple: we want to find more of them, and understand how they tick. Every new chirp we find is a fresh chance to be surprised.