Most Powerful Supernova Ever

Massive Star Explosion

Source:  NASA

Spectacular Space Event
An international team of scientists
has discovered the most powerful
and brightest supernova ever
recorded.  The space event is
off the charts.  A supernova
is the explosive death of a
star.  In this case, scientists
theorize it may have been
two stars that merged and 
then exploded.  The
supernova event is unique,
extreme and one for the record
books.

Billions of Light Years Away
The event occurred 3.6
billion light years from
Earth.  It's named
SN2016aps.  According to
lead astronomer Matt Nicholl
of the University of Birmingham,
the team measured the supernova in
two ways: total energy of the
explosion and the amount of
light or radiation emitted.
With normal supernovas, the
radiation amounts to 1% of
the total energy.  In this one,
the radiation is an incredible 5 times
times the explosion energy.  

Bigger than the Sun
This supernova produced the
most light astronomers have
ever seen.  They believe it
contained 50 to 100 times the
mass of the Sun.  Their report
on the discovery has just
been published in the journal
Nature Discovery.  The 
astronomers say they believe
even more exciting discoveries
are on the horizon.

Space Resource
For a great informational
resource on space and other
innovation news, go to
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