The 1st images taken by the Dark Energy Survey (DES) have revealed a rare, ‘superluminous’ supernova that erupted in a galaxy 7.8 B light yrs away. The stellar explosion, DES13S2cmm, easily outshines most galaxies in the Universe and could still be seen in the data 6m later, at the end of the first of what will be 5y of observing by DES. NOTE: superluminous supernovae are a recent discovery, only recognized as a distinct class of objects in the past 5 years. They are 10-50X brighter at their peak than the brightest normal type of supernovae and, unlike other supernovae, their explosive origins remain a mystery. >> DES13S2cmm is unusual. The rate that it is fading away over time is much slower than for most others that have been observed to date. This change in brightness over time, or light curve, gives info on the mechanisms that caused the explosion and the composition of the material ejected.
Posted on: Wed, 25 Jun 2014 17:38:30 +0000