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Sometimes I’ll read about something that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. And sometimes I read something that makes my neck hair leap off my neck and run around in circles screaming panickedly.
Supernova 2016aps is that second thing. https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/record-breaker-supernova-2016aps-exploded-with-the-energy-of-100-billion-suns
Supernova 2016aps is that second thing. https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/record-breaker-supernova-2016aps-exploded-with-the-energy-of-100-billion-suns
2/ I mean, ANY supernova is a mind-crushing event. But this one… yeah. SO MANY huge things about it. The star was ridiculously massive. It may have been two stars that merged to get that big.
And it blew up due to its core creating antimatter.
Antimatter.
And it blew up due to its core creating antimatter.
Antimatter.
3/ … and oh yeah, it was the most luminous confirmed supernova ever seen, at its peak blasting out energy at a rate 100 BILLION TIMES WHAT THE SUN DOES.
4/ In the end, over just a few years, it put out far more energy than the Sun will *over its entire multi-billion-year lifetime*.
And that is the sound of the back of my neck going bald.
And that is the sound of the back of my neck going bald.
5/ As always, details are in my article. But this reminds me that when you have a big collection of things, and one of them is a clear record breaker, it’s usually because of a confluence of unusual events. In this case that’s really true.
6/ Making a star with >100 times the Sun’s mass is nearly impossible all on its own. They tend to tear themselves apart. Eta Carinae is an example of that. We’re not sure how massive it is, but it’s close to that upper limit, and undergoes huge paroxysms.
https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/the-universe-does-fireworks-way-better-meet-eta-carinae
https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/the-universe-does-fireworks-way-better-meet-eta-carinae
7/ The one that blew up as SN2016aps may have been 2 hugely massive stars that merged to form one MONSTROUSLY massive star. That can cause the star to spin very rapidly, which is important too. When the core collapsed, it may have been spinning too rapidly to form a black hole.
8/ Instead, it may have formed a magnetar, a super-magnetically-energized neutron star. These are awesomely powerful, and may have helped throw some gasoline onto the supernova’s fire. Metaphorically speaking. https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/magnetars-are-the-most-powerful-magnets-in-the-universe-heres-how-theyre-made
9/ How powerful? In 2004 a blast wave from a magnetar swept over the Earth and *physically affected our planet*. That magnetar, SGR 1806-20, is 50,000 light years away: Halfway across the galaxy. https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/anniversary-of-a-cosmic-blast
10/ And there’s more. The star was born in a dense nebula. All the material in the star exploded outwards at extremely high speed, and slammed into this gas around it. That converted its energy of motion (kinetic energy) into light, and that’s a LOT of energy. A *lot* a lot.
11/ So all of these things combined are why SN2016aps was so overwhelmingly powerful. Incredible. And there may have been other supernova even more powerful than that! It’s just they aren’t confirmed as actual supernovae yet. But either way, they’re pretty rare. Thankfully.
12/12 I’ll leave you with that since after writing these I’m curled up in a little ball on the floor. I love supernovae and have read/studied about them for all my life, but every now and again I remember their actual power and bam! Brianlock. Oof.
https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/record-breaker-supernova-2016aps-exploded-with-the-energy-of-100-billion-suns
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https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/record-breaker-supernova-2016aps-exploded-with-the-energy-of-100-billion-suns
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