Star Explosion Among Brightest Ever Detected
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
On Dec. 27, astronomers detected a flash of light from a star 50,000 light-years away that was so bright it bounced off the moon and lit up Earth’s upper atmosphere -- making it the brightest explosion ever detected from beyond the solar system.
The eruption on the surface of an exotic neutron star released more energy in a tenth of a second than our sun emits in 100,000 years, researchers said.
Had the eruption occurred within 10 light-years of Earth, it would have caused a mass extinction, researchers said at a news conference Friday.
Fortunately, there are no similar stars that close to Earth.
