ESO/VPHAS+ team. Acknowledgement: Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit
ZU_09/DigitalVision Vectors/Getty Images
Around 11,000 years ago, humans began shifting from hunter-gatherer lifestyles to form the first agricultural societies at the dawn of the Neolithic Period.
It was also around that time when a massive star exploded deep in space.
The star was located just 800 light years from Earth and would have burst apart in a blinding supernova.