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The explosion of a star halfway across the universe was so huge it set a record for the most distant object that could be seen on Earth by the naked eye.

It's not so much the distance that amazes me: 7.5 billion light years, which is roughly 4.4 x 10(22) miles (I can't figure out how to do superscript). That's ~4 with 22 zeros at the end of it, way further than anything else we can claim to have seen on this earth as we gaze up at the black night sky. Once you get into distances much larger than the diameter of the earth, my brain can't handle the thought of it, so that many light years simply registers as "damn BIG." No, the thing that really boggles my mind is this:

However, NASA has no reports that any skywatchers spotted the burst, which lasted less than an hour.

For the love of Pete. A star exploded halfway across the universe - in a galaxy we didn't even know existed before - and the light from this unfathomable violence traveled for 7.5 billion years to reach our little planet and then this mind boggling event was over in less than an hour? That's beyond my comprehension. I don't know how else to say it. It's jaw-dropping amazing.
There's something almost terrifying about such magnitudes of violence being instantaneous.

Meanwhile, I was oblivious to the whole mysterious happening. I was watching the cardinals and chickadees at our bird feeder. I find it beautiful that the universe is big enough to allow such isolation.