Researchers at Ohio State University report on a [still active] supernova explosion that is brighter than any other seen before:
Right now, astronomers are viewing a ball of hot gas billions of light years away that is radiating the energy of hundreds of billions of suns. At its heart is an object a little larger than 10 miles across.
And astronomers are not entirely sure what it is.
If, as they suspect, the gas ball is the result of a supernova, then it's the most powerful supernova ever seen.
In this week's issue of the journal Science, they report that the object at the center could be a very rare type of star called a magnetar—but one so powerful that it pushes the energy limits allowed by physics.
[...] the explosion that powered ASASSN-15lh stands out for its sheer magnitude. It is 200 times more powerful than the average supernova, 570 billion times brighter than our sun, and 20 times brighter than all the stars in our Milky Way Galaxy combined.
How is this possible?
Todd Thompson, professor of astronomy at Ohio State, offered one possible explanation. The supernova could have spawned an extremely rare type of star called a millisecond magnetar, a rapidly spinning and very dense star with a very strong magnetic field.
To shine so bright, this particular magnetar would also have to spin at least 1,000 times a second, and convert all that rotational energy to light with nearly 100 percent efficiency, Thompson explained. It would be the most extreme example of a magnetar that scientists believe to be physically possible.
Additional reading: abstract.
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Friday January 15 2016, @05:18PM
So SPF50 then?
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Friday January 15 2016, @05:29PM
My first thought with a rotating device was what about the centrifugal force (oblig [xkcd.com]), I think it would be somewhere in the region of 10^42 newtons, or in otherwords fling something off the surface at 10^11 G, and I think surface gravity would be on the order of half that.
I'm probably just blowing hot air of course as I'm not an astrophysicist.
(Score: 2) by EvilSS on Friday January 15 2016, @06:59PM
SPF 5*10^50 might be more appropriate.
(Score: 4, Funny) by linkdude64 on Friday January 15 2016, @06:01PM
That soccer ball Chuck Norris round-house kicked out of Earth's orbit finally collided with something.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Friday January 15 2016, @06:07PM
Nah.Norris didn't shout "GOAL" yet.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Bot on Friday January 15 2016, @06:05PM
In the future, power companies will have mastered the technology, producing femto magnetars (nano, pico prefixes will be passé by then) that will practically achieve 100% efficiency for energy generation.
Of course, they will not market them until they find a way to make them last no more than current light bulbs.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 15 2016, @06:21PM
Sorry that was me. I tried to be nice and get far away but..... oh well.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 15 2016, @06:40PM
"An artist's impression"
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Friday January 15 2016, @06:44PM
http://www.bloodygoodhorror.com/bgh/files/styles/d7_full_image/public/promos/The_incredible_melting_man_make-up_effects.jpg [bloodygoodhorror.com]
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Friday January 15 2016, @07:42PM
Well, you can't actually see it from here. It's in the Constellation Tucana, so you need to be southern hemisphere.
(Score: 3, Funny) by isostatic on Friday January 15 2016, @09:13PM
I can't see it from here either, as I'm inside and the curtains are closed.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 15 2016, @09:03PM
There's a pic in the Ohio State press release in the article summary (before/after pic of that part of the sky).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 16 2016, @10:09AM
This: https://news.osu.edu/assets/ASASSN-15lh_image_eng.jpg [osu.edu] ?
The gain is obviously different, using that comparison as evidence for anything is crackpottery of the highest degree.
(Score: 2) by driverless on Saturday January 16 2016, @03:59AM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 15 2016, @06:46PM
Sure, but have you ever been an astronomer studying what may be the most powerful supernova ever seen, on weed?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 15 2016, @08:30PM
No, but I did get trashed at a Holiday Inn last night.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by bob_super on Friday January 15 2016, @06:55PM
> astronomers are viewing a ball of hot gas billions of light years away that is radiating the energy of hundreds of billions of suns.
> At its heart is an object a little larger than 10 miles across.
> And astronomers are not entirely sure what it is.
Either someone is presenting their modelization as fact, or telescopes have gotten so good we shouldn't bother to spend probes to photograph the outer planets.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 15 2016, @08:01PM
Yea, well. Your ma's ass is so fat when she cuts loose astronomers billions of lightyears away view a ball of hot gas radiating the energy of hundreds of billions of suns with an object a little larger than 10 miles across at the heart of it. Spend your probes on modelization of that fact.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 15 2016, @09:48PM
The size limit is set by the upper limit for the size of a supernova-formed neutron star or black hole. The paper goes into matching what they see to other super-luminous supernovas. If it turns out to be something more exotic, like with the galactic core or something, they'll have to wait until they can image it with Hubble because they can't see its companion galaxy with the relatively small telescopes they use for the all-sky survey.
(Score: 2) by inertnet on Friday January 15 2016, @07:21PM
I was wondering if this could be the final merger of the central black holes of two colliding galaxies. Could someone please shed some light on that possibility (pun intended)? Or else explain why it can't be that.
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Friday January 15 2016, @11:51PM
I'm pretty sure that would create a gamma ray burst, much more energetic than what was seen here.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Saturday January 16 2016, @03:37AM
Here's my source:
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/01/14/462710274/record-busting-star-explosion-baffles-sky-watchers [npr.org]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by driverless on Saturday January 16 2016, @04:29AM
“It takes a lot of energy to shine that bright, and that energy has to come from somewhere.”
Deficit spending, and then you recover through energy credit default swaps.
(Score: 1) by Some call me Tim on Saturday January 16 2016, @02:57AM
Next show will has been an hour ago, don't be late!
Questioning science is how you do science!