The irony of the reporting is cool, actually.
The supernova is new, to us. It happened 12 million years ago, if indeed, it is located 12 million light years away.
Amazing.
And for those who aren't aware, ONE light year, the *distance* light travels in a year at its speed of 186,000 miles per second, works out to just under 6 TRILLION miles. Now multiply 6 trillion by 12 million.