By Pallab Ghosh for the BBC
Astronomers have discovered what they believe to be the largest explosion ever detected.
The explosion is more than 10 times brighter than any recorded exploding star – known as a supernova.
So far it has lasted more than three years, much longer than most supernovae which are usually only visibly bright for a few months.
One theory is that the blast was caused when a vast cloud of gas was swallowed up by a black hole.
This is most powerful explosion ever detected. It’s 8bn light years away and was bright enough to be captured a nasa space telescope. The blast is ten times more powerful than a supernova and thought to be caused by a giant gas cloud swallowed up by a supermassive black hole.
His theory is that the explosion is a result of an enormous cloud of gas, possibly thousands of times larger than our Sun, swallowed up by a supermassive black hole.
All galaxies are thought to have giant black holes at their heart. Dr Wiseman believes that such powerful explosions could play an important role in what he describes as “sculpting” the centre of galaxies.
Credit: radionz.co.nz
