Largest Supernova Discovered

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.