Astronomers find largest explosion yet discovered
Using a large variety of telescopes, astronomers have confirmed the discovery of the largest and longest explosion ever discovered, dubbed AT2021lwx and more than eight billion light years away yet ten times brighter than any supernovae previously recorded while lasting years rather than months.
The researchers believe that the explosion is a result of a vast cloud of gas, possibly thousands of times larger than our sun, that has been violently disrupted by a supermassive black hole. Fragments of the cloud would have been swallowed up, sending shockwaves through its remnants, as well as into a large dusty doughnut-shaped formation surrounding the black hole. Such events are very rare and nothing on this scale has been witnessed before.
Last year, astronomers witnessed the brightest explosion on record – a gamma-ray burst known as GRB 221009A. While this was brighter than AT2021lwx, it lasted for just a fraction of the time, meaning the overall energy released by the AT2021lwx explosion is far greater. The physical size of the explosion is about 100 times larger than the entire solar system, and at its brightest, it was about 2 trillion times brighter than the Sun.
The only things in the universe that are as bright as AT2021lwx are quasars – supermassive black holes with a constant flow of gas falling onto them at high velocity.
Any theories at this moment about the cause of this explosion are very tentative, pending acquisition of more data. What is certain is that the tools of astronomers are far more sophisticated today, allowing for such discoveries that were once impossible. And it also appears that the existence of thousands of Starlink satellites in orbit did nothing to hinder this research.
Using a large variety of telescopes, astronomers have confirmed the discovery of the largest and longest explosion ever discovered, dubbed AT2021lwx and more than eight billion light years away yet ten times brighter than any supernovae previously recorded while lasting years rather than months.
The researchers believe that the explosion is a result of a vast cloud of gas, possibly thousands of times larger than our sun, that has been violently disrupted by a supermassive black hole. Fragments of the cloud would have been swallowed up, sending shockwaves through its remnants, as well as into a large dusty doughnut-shaped formation surrounding the black hole. Such events are very rare and nothing on this scale has been witnessed before.
Last year, astronomers witnessed the brightest explosion on record – a gamma-ray burst known as GRB 221009A. While this was brighter than AT2021lwx, it lasted for just a fraction of the time, meaning the overall energy released by the AT2021lwx explosion is far greater. The physical size of the explosion is about 100 times larger than the entire solar system, and at its brightest, it was about 2 trillion times brighter than the Sun.
The only things in the universe that are as bright as AT2021lwx are quasars – supermassive black holes with a constant flow of gas falling onto them at high velocity.
Any theories at this moment about the cause of this explosion are very tentative, pending acquisition of more data. What is certain is that the tools of astronomers are far more sophisticated today, allowing for such discoveries that were once impossible. And it also appears that the existence of thousands of Starlink satellites in orbit did nothing to hinder this research.