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Credit & Copyright: Jin Ma (Beijing Planetarium)
Explanation:
It is a candidate for the brightest and most powerful explosion ever seen --
what is it?
The flaring spot of light
was found by the
All Sky Automated
Survey for Supernovae
(ASASSN) in June of last year and labelled
ASASSN-15lh.
Located about three billion
light years distant, the source appears tremendously bright for anything so
far away:
roughly 200 times brighter than an average
supernova,
and temporarily 20 times brighter than all of the stars in our
Milky Way Galaxy combined.
Were light emitted by
ASASSN-15lh at this rate in all directions at once, it would be the most
powerful explosion yet recorded.
No known stellar object was thought to create an explosion this powerful, although
pushing the
theoretical limits for
the spin-down
of highly-magnetized neutron star -- a
magnetar --
gets close.
Assuming the flare fades as expected later this year,
astronomers are planning to use telescopes including
Hubble
to zoom in on the region to gain more clues.
The
above-featured artist's
illustration
depicts a hypothetical night sky of a planet located across the host galaxy from
the outburst.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: supernova - explosion
Publications with words: supernova - explosion
See also:
- APOD: 2023 October 11 Á NGC 1097: Spiral Galaxy with Supernova
- APOD: 2023 July 9 Á Doomed Star Eta Carinae
- APOD: 2023 May 22 Á Supernova Discovered in Nearby Spiral Galaxy M101
- Supernova Cannon Expels Pulsar J0002
- SN Requiem: A Supernova Seen Three Times So Far
- NGC 7814: Little Sombrero with Supernova
- Supernova in NGC 2525