Scientists discover brightest, likely biggest supernova yet
A team of scientists has discovered the brightest and most energetic and likely the biggest supernova yet.
The supernova, dubbed SN2016aps, is at least twice as lively and bright and much more massive than any recorded up till now.
An event of this kind to date has only been theorized, never established through astronomical observations.
The team of scientists included experts from Ohio University, Northwestern University and Harvard.
Scientists believe the SN2016aps could be an example of an exceptionally uncommon “pulsational pair-instability” supernova, likely formed from two gigantic stars that merged before the explosion.
The findings were published in the journal Nature Astronomy today.
Lead author of the study, Dr. Matt Nicholl PhD, explained, “We can measure supernovae using two scales – the total energy of the explosion, and the amount of that energy that is emitted as observable light, or radiation.”
He added, “In a typical supernova, the radiation is less than 1 per cent of the total energy. But in SN2016aps, we found the radiation was five times the explosion energy of a normal-sized supernova. This is the most light we have ever seen emitted by a supernova.”
Dr. Nicholl is a lecturer in the School of Physics and Astronomy and the Institute of Gravitational Wave Astronomy at the University of Birmingham. He also holds a Royal Astronomical Society Research Fellowship.
The team studied the light spectrum and was able to demonstrate that the blast was powered by a collision between a massive shell of gas, shed by the star in the years before it exploded, and the supernova.
The supernova was initially noticed in data from the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System, which is a large-scale astronomical survey program. The team also used data from the Keck and Gemini Observatories, the Hubble Space Telescope, in Hawaii, and the MDM and MMT Observatories in Arizona. Space Telescope Science Institute, Copenhagen University, Stockholm University and California Institute of Technology also collaborated.
Image via press release
