As David Rubin of the University of California, Berkeley, lead author on the study, told the AAS meeting, "for a sense of brightness, this supernova is about as bright as a firefly viewed from 3, 000 miles away".

BBC: Supernova 'Mingus' could shed light on dark energy

Like much of the marine life in Japan, firefly squid are commercially fished and eaten as a seasonal delicacy.

BBC: Japan��s mysterious glowing squid

Still, as Firefly is showing with its BigNote site built around a thriving community of music fans, good online music stores have the potential to outdo their physical competitors just as Amazon bests its book-trade rivals.

ECONOMIST: Electronic commerce

Viewership declines, sometimes before a show has an opportunity to catch on, as with the often-discussed "Firefly" or the more recent "Last Resort, " which struggled to find the hook that would keep audiences coming back.

CNN: Binge-watching makes TV better