In 2006, astronomers spotted the telltale sign of a supernova explosion in the galaxy NGC 1260, located about 240 million light-years away in the constellation Perseus. As telescopes around the world used their collective light-gathering power on the expanding explosion designated as SN 2006gy, they realized they were seeing something very unusual.

This was clearly no ordinary supernova. It became 100 times brighter than a typical stellar explosion and lasted much longer.

More than a decade after this cosmic explosion, astronomers think they finally know what series of events led to the release of such an amount of energy, now called a superluminous supernova. A red giant ate a white dwarf. An event so rare that it probably represents only one in 1,000 supernovae.

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Team: Fraser Cain – @fcain / [email protected]
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The references:
https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2007/07may_bigsupernova
https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2020/01/24/the-brightest-supernovae-of-all-have-a-suspiciously-common-explanation/#179f6c4e20c0
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/367/6476/415
https://www.mpa-garching.mpg.de/797272/news20200124
https://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/science/objects/cataclysmic_variables.html
https://www.space.com/superluminous-supernova-explosion-explained.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?vRZKiWGT4Za4&listPLbJ42wpShvml6Eg22WjWAR-6QUufHFh2v&index153&t0s

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