A team of astronomers led by the University of Southampton in England have uncovered the largest cosmic explosion ever witnessed.
The explosion is more than ten times brighter than any known supernova and three times brighter than the brightest tidal disruption event, where a star falls into a supermassive black hole.
The flare-up known as AT2021lwx has been traced to 8bn light years away.
It is more than 10 times brighter than any known supernova and has so far lasted more than three years, making it the most energetic explosion on record.
Scientists believe that the explosion is the result of a vast cloud of gas possibly thousands of times larger than our sun… plunging into the inescapable mouth of a supermassive black hole.
The cloud of gas may have originated from the large dusty "doughnut" that typically surrounds black holes - although it is not clear what may have knocked it off course from its orbit and down the cosmic sinkhole.
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