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Astronomers have seen what could possibly be the most powerful supernova ever seen. The ball of hot gas, billions of light years away, is radiating the energy of hundreds of billions of our sun. Estimated to be 10 miles across it’s found in a very unusually active galaxy and it outshines all other supernovae currently published in the literature by at least a factor of two. The object could be a very rare type of star called a Magnetar – but if it is, it pushes the energy limits allowed by physics to the extreme. Professor Christopher Kochanek of Ohio State University explains how they found it and how time using the Hubble Space Telescope next month should help determine exactly what this object may be.

Photo: Credit: An artist's impression of the record-breakingly powerful, superluminous supernova ASASSN- 15lh as it would appear from an exoplanet located about 10,000 light years away in the host galaxy of the supernova. [Credit: Wayne Rosing]