The astronomers have identified the largest cosmic explosion ever observed, a ball of fire 100 times the size of our Solar System that suddenly began to burn in the universe distant for more than three years.
While the astronomers on Friday offered what they believe to be the most likely explanation for the explosion, they stressed that more research is needed to understand the puzzling phenomenon.
The explosion, known as AT2021lwx, has currently lasted for more than three years, compared to most supernovae which are only visibly bright for a few months, according to a study published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
The radiation from the AT2021lwx “event” took eight billion years
Stellar Burst AT2021lwx
Led by the University of Southampton, astronomers believe the explosion is the result of a large cloud of gas, possibly thousands of times larger than our sun, that has been violently disrupted by a supermassive black hole.
According to the study, the explosion took place nearly 8 billion light-years away, when the universe was about 6 billion years old and is still being detected by a network of telescopes.
Such events are very rare and nothing on this scale has been witnessed before, the researchers say.
Last year, astronomers witnessed the brightest explosion on record, a gamma-ray burst known as GRB 221009A, which was nicknamed BOAT, for Brightest Of All Time.
Although BOAT was brighter than AT2021lwx, it lasted only a fraction of the time, meaning the total energy released by AT2021lwx’s explosion was much higher.
According to Danny Milisavljevic, Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Purdue University, AT2021lwx was first assigned a random alphanumeric name when it was discovered: ZTF20abrbeie. The nickname “Scary Barbie” comes from her alphanumeric designation “abrbeie” and “scary” due to her power.
We first thought AT2021lwx aka ZTF20abrbeie aka #ScaryBarbie was a superluminous supernova from a massive star. But no theoretical models came close to explaining the terrifying energy output that continues to this day. A supermassive black hole seems to be the only solution. pic.twitter.com/GldfFWltJc
— Danny Milisavljevic (@astro_dan_mil)
April 26, 2023
Only when astronomers, including Wiseman, looked at it through more powerful telescopes, did they realize what they were up to. By analyzing different wavelengths of light, they found that the explosion occurred some 8 billion light-years away. That’s much farther away than most other new flashes of light in the sky, which means the explosion behind it must be much larger.
The only somewhat comparable bright cosmic event is a quasar, which occurs when supermassive black holes swallow enormous amounts of gas at the centers of galaxies. But they tend to flicker in brightness, Wiseman said, whereas AT2021lwx suddenly started glowing out of nowhere three years ago and is still smoldering.
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