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SCIENCETuesday 19 January 2016

Scientists spot brightest supernova yet, outshines Milky Way

This image shows an artist’s impression of the superluminous supernova ASASSN-15lh as it would MARCIA DUNN including the previous re-
appear from an exoplanet located about 10,000 light-years away in the host galaxy of the super- AP Aerospace Writer cord-holders.
nova. CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. At its peak intensity, it is be-
(AP) — Astronomers have lieved to be 20 times more
(Jin Ma/Beijing Planetarium/The Kavli Foundation via AP) discovered the brightest luminous than the entire
star explosion ever, a super Milky Way. Some estimates
supernova that easily out- put it at 50 times brighter.
shines our entire Milky Way. And try this statistic on for
An international team re- size: It is 570 billion times
vealed “the most power- brighter at its peak than our
ful supernova observed sun.
in human history” in the Lead author Subo Dong of
latest Science journal last China’s Peking University
week. The astronomers said when he learned the
used a network of tele- magnitude of the discovery
scopes around the world last summer, he was “too
to spot the record-break- excited to sleep the rest of
ing supernova last year. the night.” Fellow research-
Super luminous supernovas er Benjamin Shappee of the
— extra bright stellar explo- Carnegie Institution for Sci-
sions — are believed to be ence in Pasadena, Califor-
rare. The newly discovered nia, didn’t believe the re-
supernova is especially sults at first, which seemed
rare: It is more than twice “surreal.”
as luminous as any super- “Discoveries like this are the
nova observed to date, reason I am an astrono-
mer,” Shappee said in an
US: email. “Nature is extremely
clever and it is often more
Deep flaws at biodefense lab after live anthrax shipped imaginative than we can
be.”
ROBERT BURNS the lab at Dugway Prov- to have been killed before lapses on any individual, Labeled ASASSN-15lh for
AP National Security Writer ing Ground in Utah as a leaving Dugway. but it said the Army should the All-Sky Automated Sur-
WASHINGTON (AP) — A colonel between 2009 and The report called the in- consider holding King and vey for SuperNovae and
general and 11 other peo- 2011, faulting him for ac- advertent shipment of live the 11 others accountable. pronounced “assassin,”
ple associated with a U.S. tions that “perpetuated a anthrax “a serious breach The Army has not yet taken the mega blast is located
Army biodefense labora- complacent atmosphere” of regulations” but said it disciplinary action against in a galaxy perhaps 3.8 bil-
tory face potential punish- among lab workers. did not pose a risk to public any of them. lion light-years away. The
ment for leadership, man- The report’s findings were health. The names of the 11 other precise galaxy is unknown.
agement and technical first reported by USA Today. “Over the years, significant individuals were blacked There are other puzzles as
failures that an Army report The lab came under pub- safeguards effectively en- out in the publicly released well.
says contributed to the mis- lic scrutiny when it was dis- sured that the inadver- report. “The explosion’s mecha-
taken shipment of live an- closed in May 2015 that live tent shipments were not a It described them as a nism and power source re-
thrax to other labs over a anthrax had been shipped threat.” combination of military of- main shrouded in mystery
period of years. to 194 other labs, includ- Dugway works with biologi- ficers and others, includ- because all known theories
The report released Friday ing facilities in all 50 U.S. cal and chemical agents. ing laboratory technicians meet serious challenges
named Brig. Gen. William states and nine countries. The report said investigators who “failed to exercise due in explaining the immense
E. King, who commanded The anthrax was supposed could not pin blame for the care.”q amount of energy ASASSN-
15lh has radiated,” Dong
said in a statement.q