An illustration depicting a Type I X-ray burst. A similar supernova generated the extreme X-ray burst that NASA’s NICER instrument recently recorded. (Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (USRA))

In late August, an instrument on the International Space Station, called NICER, spotted its brightest burst of X-ray radiation yet.

NICER, or the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer, studies X-rays that come from neutron stars, the super-dense remnants of some stars afte