Astronomers puzzled by largest ever cosmic blastAFP, PARISAstronomers yesterday said they have identified the largest cosmic explosion ever observed, a fireball 100 times the size of the solar system that suddenly began blazing in a distant universe more than three years ago. An illustration from Feb. 27, 2017, shows a tidal disruption event, which astronomers said could have caused AT2021lwx, the largest cosmic explosion ever observed. It was only when astronomers, including Wiseman, looked at it through more powerful telescopes that they realized what they had on their hands. Another possibility is what is called a tidal disruption event, when a star is torn apart as it is sucked into a supermassive black hole. The only somewhat comparable bright cosmic event is a quasar, when supermassive black holes swallow huge amounts of gas in the center of galaxies.

Source: Taipei Times May 13, 2023 03:42 UTC