As soon as a dying star’s core collapses, the energy waves begin traveling outward until they rip through the surface in an X-ray burst known as a “shock breakout.” Within hours or even seconds, the shock breakout is overtaken by the ensuing stellar explosion. But thanks to quick coordination efforts around the world, an international research team recently spotted a star’s shock breakout about 500 million light-years from Earth. Suspecting to see a rare shock breakout, astronomers at multiple observatories quickly pinpointed their target to gather as much data as possible. The X-ray shock breakout was the faintest ever detected, and follow-up observations didn’t identify any relativistic jet bursting forth.