People gathered to celebrate a star-studded birthday Feb. 24 under the starry skies of Observatory Park in Montville Township. Supernova 1987a first appeared three decades ago, giving astronomers the closest observed explosion of a star since 1604. “The light from this supernova first reached human eyes on Feb. 23, 1987, so we’ll be celebrating its 30th birthday during our program,” said Chris Mentrek, Geauga Park District naturalist. “Although the killjoys will point out that the light had already been travelling for 170,000 years before it reached Earth. So, I suppose, we should be celebrating a 170,030th birthday.” The “Supernova 1987a...
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