綜合《衛報》、半島電視台(Al Jazeera)報導,英國南安普敦大學(University of Southampton)的研究團隊指出,名為AT2021lwx的大爆炸發生在距離地球約80億光年之外,至今已持續超過3年。爆炸發生的原因,可能是一個比太陽大幾千倍的巨大氣體雲,遭到超大質量的黑洞吞噬,因此爆發了劇烈燃燒。
A team of astronomers led by researchers at have discovered the largest cosmic explosion ever witnessed.
Known as AT2021lwx, it is more than 10x brighter than any known supernova. The research is published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
— Royal Astronomical Society (@RoyalAstroSoc)
團隊負責人魏斯曼博士(Dr. Philip Wiseman)說,他很慶幸大爆炸發生在距離我們十分遙遠的地方,「AT2021lwx在3年內釋放出的能量,是太陽花100億年釋放的100倍。」
We first thought AT2021lwx aka ZTF20abrbeie aka 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.