 Reines had prepared for the possibility of measuring the distant events of a supernova explosion . Supernova explosions are rare , but Reines thought he might be lucky enough to see one in his lifetime , and be able to catch the neutrinos streaming from it in his specially @-@ designed detectors . During his wait for a supernova to explode , he put signs on some of his large neutrino detectors , calling them " Supernova Early Warning Systems " . In 1987 , neutrinos emitted from Supernova <unk> were detected by the Irvine – Michigan – <unk> ( <unk> ) Collaboration , which used an 8 @,@ 000 ton <unk> detector located in a salt mine near Cleveland . Normally , the detectors recorded only a few background events each day . The supernova registered 19 events in just ten seconds . This discovery is regarded as <unk> the field of neutrino astronomy . 
