Tuesday, May 8, 2007

Astronomers Astonished by 'Monstrous' Star Explosion



Artists rendition of the star exploding

Scientists have detected a stellar explosion that is the brightest and most energetic ever recorded, and it could be the first evidence of a new type of supernova predicted to occur with only the most massive stars in the universe.

The SN 2006gy explosion occurred in a galaxy 240 million light years away, called NGC 1260, and was 100 times more energetic than typical supernovae.

It was detected in September 2006 using ground-based telescopes and NASA's Chandra X-ray space observatory.

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