Earth and Space

The superlative superluminous supernova

Stories from Physics for 11-14 14-16 IOP RESOURCES

In 2016, astrophysicists reported the occurrence of one of the most luminous supernovae ever detected. The supernova shone with a brightness 20 times more intense than all the stars in the Milky Way or 600 billion times brighter than the Sun. The so-called ‘superluminous supernova’ was so unexpectedly bright it has challenged astrophysicists’ models of how supernovae occur.

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