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SCIENTISTS SPOT BRIGHTEST SUPERNOVA YET, OUTSHINES MILKY WAY
AP ^
| January 15, 2016
| MARCIA DUNN
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 ...
TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: astronomy; supernova
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1
posted on
01/15/2016 2:13:28 PM PST
by
NYer
To: SunkenCiv
2
posted on
01/15/2016 2:14:09 PM PST
by
NYer
(Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy them. Mt 6:19)
Unprecedented. Result of global warming.
3
posted on
01/15/2016 2:19:35 PM PST
by
dsrtsage
(One half of all people have below average IQ. In the US the number is 54%)
To: NYer
Would have been nice to have had some images, but the only one I could find was an illustration.
4
posted on
01/15/2016 2:19:40 PM PST
by
PJBankard
(It is the spirit of the men who leads that gains the victory. - Gen. George Patton)
To: NYer
Here's a photo of it I took on my smartphone, while I was cruising near Saturn.
5
posted on
01/15/2016 2:20:37 PM PST
by
UCANSEE2
(Lost my tagline on Flight MH370. Sorry for the inconvenience.)
To: PJBankard
6
posted on
01/15/2016 2:22:49 PM PST
by
UCANSEE2
(Lost my tagline on Flight MH370. Sorry for the inconvenience.)
To: PJBankard
Up close....
7
posted on
01/15/2016 2:24:51 PM PST
by
central_va
(I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
To: PJBankard
I would post an image but at 500 billlion times brighter than the sun it would melt your screen and I don’t want to be responsible.
8
posted on
01/15/2016 2:33:33 PM PST
by
DannyTN
To: central_va
I don't know.....I think the Galaxy is brighter.
9
posted on
01/15/2016 2:34:21 PM PST
by
Bryanw92
(Sic semper tyrannis)
To: UCANSEE2
LOL.
10
posted on
01/15/2016 2:34:27 PM PST
by
PJBankard
(It is the spirit of the men who leads that gains the victory. - Gen. George Patton)
To: NYer
I built a fireworks shell like that once and I’m still waiting for it to cool down.
11
posted on
01/15/2016 2:37:13 PM PST
by
soycd
To: Bryanw92
I used to like to watch satellites fly by.
12
posted on
01/15/2016 2:41:59 PM PST
by
central_va
(I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
To: NYer; SunkenCiv
The only source I can think of that might release that much energy might be high-speed, direct collision of the SMBHs at the cores of two colliding galaxies...
Doubtless, exposure to that much radiated energy would make the experiences of any life-forms in those galaxies, "interesting" -- but brief...
13
posted on
01/15/2016 2:45:37 PM PST
by
TXnMA
("Allah: Satan's current alias. "Obama": Allah's current ally...)
To: NYer
Not really that much info in the article, but something “big time” hit the fan billions on light years away.
Odd they can't identify the galaxy or maybe the supernova
is so bright, they can't see it yet.
14
posted on
01/15/2016 2:56:58 PM PST
by
The Cajun
(Ted Cruz, Sarah Palin, Mark Levin, Mike Lee, Louie Gohmert....Nuff said.)
To: central_va
(Has nothing to do with the thread, but is better than a bunny with a pancake on its head.)
15
posted on
01/15/2016 3:05:53 PM PST
by
Bryanw92
(Sic semper tyrannis)
To: NYer
If the supernova is 3.8 billion light-years away, then we are seeing what happened 3.8 billion years ago. No telling what it looks like now.
To: NYer
there is no way to prove the statements about brightest ever observed
17
posted on
01/15/2016 3:38:39 PM PST
by
Thibodeaux
(leading from behind is following)
To: NYer
Supergiant star at the end of its life having gone through the final stages of nuclear fusion - being left with an inert iron core that won’t fuse.
At some point gravitational collapse will happen and the star disintegrates, expending more energy in a runaway nuclear reaction than it did in its entire lifetime.
What’s left is either a supermassive black hole or a very dense, fast-spinning neutron star.
18
posted on
01/15/2016 3:39:48 PM PST
by
goldstategop
(In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
To: PJBankard
Although I didn’t cruise near Saturn, or take the picture, that is allegedly the real image of this recent supernova.
Your photo looks cool, but it is not the supernova in question.
19
posted on
01/15/2016 6:15:29 PM PST
by
UCANSEE2
(Lost my tagline on Flight MH370. Sorry for the inconvenience.)
To: UCANSEE2
I yanked it from the parent site of the article.
20
posted on
01/15/2016 6:45:38 PM PST
by
PJBankard
(It is the spirit of the men who leads that gains the victory. - Gen. George Patton)
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