Thursday, December 3, 2009

Astronomers Watch Most Massive Star Ever Go Supernova

Supernova Go Boom Yep, it's bigger than this explosion
(artist's illustration of SN 2006gy) NASA/CXC/M Weiss


From Popular Science:

Rare behemoth star produces antimatter and collapses in a runaway nuclear reaction that leaves nothing behind.

Stars don't tend to go quietly, and the most massive of them all create a supernova explosion 50 to 100 times brighter than normal. Now astronomers have confirmed the existence of rare but huge stars that contain 200 times the mass of our sun, after spotting one unusually bright cosmic explosion in 2007.

Read more ....

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