ASASSN-15lh

ASASSN-15lh is a supernova detected on 14 June 2015. It is the most luminous supernova ever detected.Amos, Jonathan 2016. Colossal star explosion detected. BBC News Science & Environment.   At its brightest it was 50 times brighter than the whole Milky Way.

"The exploding star was first observed back in June last year but is still radiating vast amounts of energy. At its peak, the event was 200 times more powerful than a typical supernova, making it shine with 570 billion times the brightness of our Sun. Researchers think the explosion and ongoing activity have been boosted by a very dense, highly magnetised, remnant object called a magnetar. This object, created as the supernova got going, is probably no bigger than a major city, such as London, and is likely spinning at a fantastic rate - perhaps a thousand times a second".

The supernova is some 3.8 billion light-years from Earth. It was found by the All Sky Automated Survey for SuperNovae (ASAS-SN).

References

Category:Supernovae
Category:2015