Observations of supernovae and gamma-ray bursts show that massive stars end their lives with a wide variety of properties.
For supernovae, mass loss plays a crucial role in that variety.
The circumstellar interaction and explosion characteristics provide diagnostics for the stellar evolution leading up to the explosion. Central compact objects do not appear to play a role in supernova observations, but can be examined in young supernova remnants.
Department of Astronomy, University of Virginia, USA