Discovered supernova luminosity record – El Universal

Astronomers discovered the starburst brightest ever recorded, a supernova that exceeds by far the light of all the Milky Way .

An international team revealed Thursday in the journal Science “that seen in human history more powerful supernova”. Astronomers used a network of telescopes around the world to detect the colossal supernova last year

super-luminous supernovae -. Extrabrillantes stellar explosions – are considered rare. The newly discovered is especially rare. Luminosity is double any observed so far

At its most intense, is thought to be 20 times brighter than the entire Milky Way. Some estimates have it 50 times more luminous

To get an idea of ​​what this means. It is 570 billion times brighter than the Sun

The lead author of the study. Subo Dong, from Beijing University, said that when he learned of the magnitude of the discovery last summer, was “too excited to sleep the rest of the night.”

His colleague Benjamin Shappee the Carnegie Institution for Science in Pasadena, California, did not believe the results at the beginning because it seemed “surreal”.

“Discoveries like this are the reason that I’m an astronomer,” Shappee said in a message electronic. “Nature is very clever and often more imaginative than we can be.”

Named ASASSN-15lh, the All-Sky Automated Survey program for supernovae, and pronounced “assassin” (murderer) the mega explosion is located in a galaxy perhaps 3,800 million light-years away. Galaxy accurate is unknown. There are other mysteries too.

“The mechanism and the energy source of the explosion are still shrouded in mystery, because all known theories face severe challenges in explaining the immense amount of energy that is radiated ASASSN-15lh” Dong said in a statement.

The next step for scientists is to determine the source of his incredible power. Other megasupernovas like this could exist. More observatories are being investigated, including NASA spacecraft. The Hubble Space Telescope will join the mission this year.

Dong said ASASSN-15lh “could lead to lead to new ideas and comments on the kind of super-luminous supernovae,” he said.

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