A cosmic explosion, known as AT2021lwx, is taking place roughly 8 billion light years from Earth. Actively erupting for the past three years, the mighty blast emits two trillion times more light than our sun — 10 times the energy of the brightest supernova ever recorded. Astronomers are calling it the BOAT, or “Brightest of all Time.”
“AT2021lwx is an extraordinary event that does not fit into any common class of transient [or stellar eruptions],” the research team behind a new study in the “Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society” reported. “Further follow-up and modeling of AT2021lwx is necessary to reveal more about the scenario that caused the flare.”
Scientists investigating the blast, which was first spotted in 2020, have come up with a number of theories on what the explosion is and what may have caused it. According to Time, astronomer Philip Wiseman at Southampton University may have the answer.
“We came upon this by chance, as it was flagged by our search algorithm when we were searching for a type of supernova,” Wiseman said. “Most supernovae and tidal disruption events only last for a couple of months before fading away. For something to be bright for two plus years was immediately very unusual.”
Wiseman and his team said they believe the brilliantly bright light was caused by a massive cloud of gas thousands of times larger than our sun. The cloud of gas may have been orbiting a black hole when it was somehow disrupted and began falling into the hole.
“We are hoping to discover more events like this and learn more about them,” Wiseman said. “It could be that these events, although extremely rare, are so energetic that they are key parts of how the centers of galaxies change over time.”
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