Most Luminous Supernova Ever Detected
There's an interesting story going around the internet this morning regarding the most luminous Supernova ever detected. A peer reviewed paper in the journal Science is reporting the discovery of ASASSN-15lh (SN 2015L) in a large quiescent (inactive) galaxy. Usually super-luminous supernovae reside in active star-forming dwarf galaxies so this discovery is unique in many ways.
Here is the abstract from the Science Paper:
We report the discovery of ASASSN-15lh (SN 2015L), which we interpret as the most luminous supernova yet found. At redshift z = 0.2326, ASASSN-15lh reached an absolute magnitude of Mu,AB = -23.5 ± 0.1 and bolometric luminosity Lbol = (2.2 ± 0.2) × 1045 ergs s-1, which is more than twice as luminous as any previously known supernova. It has several major features characteristic of the hydrogen-poor super-luminous supernovae (SLSNe-I), whose energy sources and progenitors are currently poorly understood. In contrast to most previously known SLSNe-I that reside in star-forming dwarf galaxies, ASASSN-15lh appears to be hosted by a luminous galaxy (MK ≈ -25.5) with little star formation. In the 4 months since first detection, ASASSN-15lh radiated (1.1 ± 0.2) × 1052 ergs, challenging the magnetar model for its engine.
If you're interested in reading a less technical version, an article on the discovery can be found here:
http://www.theverge.com/2016/1/14/10769296/supernova-super-bright-collapsed-star-hubble-telescope
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