Academia Sinica Logo

Over the past decade, advanced wide-field and multi-messenger transient surveys have revolutionized our ability to watch stellar explosions in real time. Coupled with rapid follow-up observations and extensive numerical models, I will highlight recent breakthroughs — such as the first robust electron-capture supernova at the boundary between white dwarf formation and iron core collapse, mysterious yet ubiquitous mass-loss activity in the final stages of massive stars, and kilonova emission from a binary neutron star merger detected in gravitational waves — that reshape our understanding of stellar evolution and explosion physics. I will also discuss their wide-ranging implications, including nucleosynthesis, galactic chemical evolution, and compact object populations. Finally, I will conclude with the promises in the coming golden decade of time-domain astronomy with the Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s LSST, Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA’s fifth observing run, and the Bustling Universe Radio Survey Telescope in Taiwan.