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Is this an explosion on the upper left of the galaxy, or just a bright star within it?
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Hi,
Welcome 
It may just be a bright star. If you click on the map, in the popup there is a “Single Exposures” link -
The exposures are listed by filter (band), so scroll down to z band (red, in these images), the last three images. You can see those were taken about a month apart, and the dot looks about equally bright in each. I think that would suggest it’s not a supernova.
It’s detected in Gaia, but doesn’t have a proper motion – that’s another way of identifying foreground stars.
cheers,
dustin
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There are an incredible number of supernovas visible on the Viewer. While this is not one, if you keep looking I believe you will find one. I have found several, but I have been wrong quite often. I considered those learning experiences. I have posted things I am curious about and some of it I still don’t understand. I think Legacy Survey and it’s accoutrements including this discussion are better than any text book could be. I’m constantly surprised by what I find. There are subtle differences to the eye between Supernovae, asteroids and stars. The single exposures help even though black and white images, because while Supernovas and Asteroids are transient objects aka “now you see it now you don’t” supernovas don’t really move. Supernovas will often have a particular color of green, blue, pink or yellow and are quite bright. While stars tend to look darker in the middle compared to the galaxy because a galaxy is brighter than individual stars. Sometimes toggling between DR9 DR10 and DR11 can change the color of a Supernova or look faded. If you find an object you suspect is a Supernova or Asteroid you can attempt to look up the object on the Transient Names Server online using the Ra and Dec coordinates.