Posted on 01/15/2016 2:13:28 PM PST by NYer
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- Astronomers have discovered the brightest star explosion ever, a super supernova that easily outshines our entire Milky Way.
An international team revealed "the most powerful supernova observed in human history" Thursday in the latest Science journal. The astronomers used a network of telescopes around the world to spot the record-breaking supernova last year.
Super luminous supernovas - extra bright stellar explosions - are believed to be rare. The newly discovered supernova is especially rare: It is more than twice as luminous as any supernova observed to date, including the previous record-holders.
At its peak intensity, it is believed to be 20 times more luminous than the entire Milky Way. Some estimates put it at 50 times brighter.
And try this statistic on for size: It is 570 billion times brighter at its peak than our sun.
Lead author Subo Dong of China's Peking University said when he learned the magnitude of the discovery last summer, he was "too excited to sleep the rest of the night." Fellow researcher Benjamin Shappee of the Carnegie Institution for Science in Pasadena, California, didn't believe the results at first, which seemed "surreal."
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
I know. I saw that one their site. But it is just an artist’s illustration.
(stupid keyboard)
“I saw that one ON their site.”
I found a similar website, and it had the photo I posted. I THINK it’s the supernova from this article, but I could be wrong. It could just be a photo of A supernova. The photo had no ‘credit or label’ info on the website where it was posted with the similar article.
Here is a location map and some radiotelescope imaging of the actual supernova
NAME: ASASSN-15lh
Detected June of 2015
https://www.sciencenews.org/sites/default/files/2016/01/main/blogposts/ticker_brightsupernova_free.jpg
Oooh, ahhhh! BFL!
Ooops, and thanks NYer! BFL.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.