Exploding Stars

A supernova at least twice as bright and energetic, and likely more massive than any yet recorded has been recently identified. The supernova, SN2016aps, could be an example of an extremely rare 'pulsational pair-instability' supernova, possibly formed from two massive stars that merged before the explosion. Such an event so far only existed in theory and had never been confirmed through astronomical observations. Supernova can be measured using two scales-- the total energy of the explosion, and the amount of that energy that is emitted as observable light, or radiation. In a typical supernova, the radiation is less than one percent of the total energy. But in SN2016aps the radiation was five times the explosion energy of a normal-sized supernova. This is the most light ever seen by a supernova. By examining the light spectrum, it was revealed that the explosion was powered by a collision between the supernova and a massive shell of gas shed by the star in the years before it exploded.