NASA observes largest supernova on record

From Wikinews, the free news source you can write!

Tuesday, May 8, 2007

According to observations by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and ground-based optical telescopes, the supernova SN 2006gy is the brightest and most energetic stellar explosion ever recorded.
Image: pages/chandra/multimedia/photos07-052.html NASA/CXC/SAO.

SN 2006gy was the brightest and largest supernova ever discovered, scientists announced. The star was in the NGC 1260 galaxy, in the same direction as the constellation Perseus and may be a type of supernova previously predicted by theory but not observed. The conclusion was reached after extended observations of the supernova by both optical telescopes and X-ray telescopy. Currently, there are two possible explanations for the supernova's brightness, but both require the star in question to have been at least a hundred times as massive as the sun. Although the supernova is brighter than SN 1987A, which was bright enough to be seen by the naked eye, SN 2006gy is too far away to be seen by the naked eye.

Similar stars close by

The star Eta Carinae, which is in our galaxy, is similar in size to the star which became SN 2006gy. It is possible that Eta Carinae could supernova in a similar fashion. Dave Pooley, one of the discoverers of SN 2006gy said that if Eta Carinae exploded in a similar fashion, it would be bright enough that one could read by its light. However, Pooley estimates the likelihood of the star exploding soon is small and estimates that, even if it did explode, the risk to life on earth would be minimal.

Sources

Learn more about SN 2006gy and Supernova on Wikipedia.

• Ker Than "Astronomers Astonished by 'Monstrous' Star Explosion". Space.com, May 8, 2007
• "Star dies in monstrous explosion". BBC News Online, May 8, 2007
• Robert Sanders "Largest, brightest supernova discovered". Berkeley University, May 7, 2007
• "Megastar explodes in brightest supernova ever seen". Reuters, May 7, 2007
• John Timmer "Most powerful supernova ever observed may be the first of its kind ever seen". Reuters, May 7, 2007
• Nathan Smith, et al. "SN 2006gy: Discovery of the most luminous supernova ever recorded, powered by the death of an extremely massive star like Eta Carinae". arXiv, May 7, 2007
• Press Release: "NASA's Chandra Sees Brightest Supernova Ever". NASA, May 7, 2007
  

Share this:

This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable. Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators. Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections. Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.