Supernova, brighter and larger than any other, was discovered by the Smithsonian and Harvard observatories.
A supernova is an extremely bright and powerful explosion of a dying massive star, which is at least 5 times greater than the mass of the Sun. Huge stars burn a large amount of nuclear energy that, in turn, makes it very hot. The heat creates an external pressure which causes the explosion, the star collapses, creating a shock wave and flash the exterior.
The research team has recently discovered a supernova measured using two scales: the total energy of the explosion and the radiation or the amount of explosion energy in the form of light. The results showed that SN2016aps is the brightest supernova on record. The mass of the star was 50-100 times greater than that of the Sun (the mass of ordinary supernovae is 8-15 times more).
The results were published in Nature Astronomy.
