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The rich cluster Abell 520 (z = 0.201) exhibits truly extreme and puzzling multiwavelength characteristics. It may best be described as a "cosmic train wreck." It is a major merger showing abundant evidence for ram pressure stripping, with a clear offset in the gas distribution compared to the galaxies (as in the Bullet Cluster, 1E 0657-558). However, the most striking feature is a massive dark core (721 h70 M/LB) in our weak-lensing mass reconstruction. The core coincides with the central X-ray emission peak, but is largely devoid of galaxies. An unusually low mass-to-light ratio region lies 500 kpc to the east, and coincides with a shock feature visible in radio observations of the cluster. Although a displacement between the X-ray gas and the galaxy/dark matter distributions may be expected in a merger, a mass peak without galaxies cannot be easily explained within the current collisionless dark matter paradigm. Interestingly, the integrated gas mass fraction ([?]0.15), mass-to-light ratio (220 h70 M/LB), and position on the X-ray luminosity-temperature and mass-temperature relations are unremarkable. Thus, gross properties and scaling relations are not always useful indicators of the dynamical state of clusters.

SN 1997ef has been recognized as a peculiar supernova from its light curve and spectral properties. The object was classified as a Type Ic supernova (SN Ic) because its spectra were dominated by broad absorption lines of oxygen and iron, lacking any clear signs of hydrogen or helium line features. The light curve is very different from that of previously known SNe Ic, showing a very broad peak and a slow tail. The strikingly broad line features in the spectra of SN 1997ef, which were also seen in the hypernova SN 1998bw, suggest the interesting possibility that SN 1997ef may also be a hypernova. The light curve and spectra of SN 1997ef were modeled first with a standard SN Ic model assuming an ordinary kinetic energy of explosion EK= 1051ergs. The explosion of a CO star of mass MCO? 6 M?gives a reasonably good fit to the light curve but clearly fails to reproduce the broad spectral features. Then, models with larger masses and energies were explored. Both the light curve and the spectra of SN 1997ef are much better reproduced by a C+O star model with EK= 8 × 1051ergs and MCO= 10 M?. Therefore, we conclude that SN 1997ef is very likely a hypernova on the basis of its kinetic energy of explosion. Finally, implications for the deviation from spherical symmetry are discussed in an effort to improve the fits to the observations.