Astronomers have observed the largest cosmic explosion ever observed in space. They have seen such a fireball in space which is 100 times bigger than our solar system. It suddenly started blazing three years ago in a distant universe. Astronomers said that more research is needed to understand this intriguing phenomenon. The study of the biggest explosion ever seen in space was published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
This explosion has been named AT2021lwx. Most supernova explosions last only a few months, but this one currently lasts more than three years in comparison. Astronomers led by the University of Southampton believe that the explosion was caused by a giant cloud of gas. It is probably thousands of times bigger than our Sun, which was absorbed by a huge black hole inside itself. According to the study, this explosion took place about 8 billion light years away. It is still being detected by a network of telescopes.
The brightest explosion was shown last year
Researchers say that such incidents are rarely seen. It has never been seen before on such a large scale. Last year, astronomers saw an explosion that was described as the brightest on record. It was a gamma ray burst, known as GRB 221009A or BOAT. The bot was brighter than the AT2021lwx, but it appeared to be short-lived. Which simply means that the energy of AT2021lwx was much higher.
Supernovas last for a few months
AT2021lwx was first observed in 2020 from California's Zwicky Transient Facility, according to Purdue University assistant professor of physics and astronomy Danny Milisavljevic. But till now scientists have not been able to know the scale of this explosion. Researcher Philip Wiseman of the University of Southampton, who led the research, says, 'Most supernovae only last for a few months and then gradually disappear. It was very unusual for such an explosion to last more than two years in space.
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