Supernovae are exploding stars, which happen when heavy stars (weighing larger than 1.4 times the mass of our Sun) at the end of their life cycle shed their outer layers in a gigantic explosion. In many ways, it can be compared to a nuclear explosion, whose power is such that the atoms in the exploding gas fuse to form heavier-than-iron metals (Gold, Silver, Platinum, etc.) and other minerals as well. It is theorized that our own solar system might owe its existence to such an explosion, since we have such large amounts of heavy metals in our solar system:).

Mineral Olivine from Supernova! (Courtesy: Johnson Space Center)Now a team of scientists from NASA and University of Arizona have discovered minerals that were formed in such a supernova explosion!! The grains were among other extraterrestrial dust plucked by high-flying NASA research aircraft from Earth's upper atmosphere after they were delivered to Earth by a comet or primitive asteroid:D:D.
It is the first time anyone has ever discovered silicate grains, in this case Olivine (a Magnesium-Iron Silicate), from a supernova. They reveal important new information on how much material supernovae contributed to making our sun and planets, including radioactive material used in isotope age-dating techniques. The discovery also gives astrophysicists important new physical evidence they need to verify complex numerical models of supernovae explosions.
A new kind of ion microprobe called the NanoSIMS was used to measure Oxygen isotopes in the unusual grains obtained by a high-flying spacecraft. Olivine is very common in the solar system (and is found both on Earth and on Mars, and in comets and asteroids); but these grains of Olivine have oxygen isotope content seen only in theoretical models of supernova explosions. The grains are often formed when the gas cools after a supernova explosion of a star 15 times as massive as the Sun:):).
Thus, this finding provides further proof that our solar system was formed after a supernova explosion of a star 15 times as massive as Sun about 4.5 Billion Years ago... scientists will now try to find this supernova remnant (the core that is left behind after the explosion), which undoubtedly will be a Black Hole, or a White Dwarf, and perhaps thousands of light years away from us:):).