WASHINGTON (AP) - A massive exploding faraway star—the brightest supernova astronomers have ever seen—has scientists wondering whether a similar celestial fireworks show may light up the sky much closer to
Earth sometime soon. The discovery, announced Monday by NASA, drew oohs and aahs for months from the handful of astronomers who peered through telescopes to see the fuzzy remnants of the spectacular explosion after it was first spotted last fall.
Using a variety of Earth and
space telescopes, astronomers found a giant exploding star that they figure has shined about five times brighter than any of the hundreds of supernovae ever seen before, said discovery team leader Nathan Smith of the
University of California at Berkeley. The discovery was first made last September by a graduate student in Texas.
"This one is way above anything else," Smith told The Associated Press. "It's really astonishing."
Smith said the star, SN2006gy, "is a special kind of supernova that has never been seen before." He called the star "freakily massive" at 150 times the mass of the sun.
Observations from the Chandra X-ray telescope helped show that it didn't become a
black hole like other supernovae and skipped a stage of star death.
Unlike other exploding stars, which peak at brightness for a couple of weeks at most, this supernova, peaked for 70 days, according to NASA. And it has been shining at levels brighter than other supernovae for several months, Smith said.
And even at 240 million
light years away, this star in a distant galaxy does suggest that a similar and relatively nearby star—one 44 quadrillion miles away—might blow in similar fashion any day now or 50,000 years from now, Smith said. It wouldn't threaten Earth, but it would be so bright that people could read by it at night, said University of California at Berkeley astronomer David Pooley. However, it would only be visible to people in the
Southern Hemisphere, he said.
___ On the Net: http://www.nasa.gov
This site was written for Las Vegas, then LouisVille. Now, it seems to be about anywhere. In these phlogs, you'll see a lot of my personal notes and pictures. I like to post my observations here to remember life and celebrate it. I'm not religious. I don't pray for good fortune. I'm ecstatically grateful for the gift of life and I think our time should be remembered and not taken for granted. I'm not a writer. I think pictures tell stories so much better than words. I love just about everything in this life, and, I guess that would have to include you. So, if you've seen me, don't be surprised if your picture is in here somewhere. Of all the critters, people are absolutely the most interesting. 
The Desert Inn was owned for a time by famed wacky billionaire Howard Hughes. In 1966, Hughes booked the top two floors of the place for ten days...and when the ten days were up, he declined to leave. The proprietors of the hotel wanted him out. Even though he was paying for his lodging, they were in the business of renting to gamblers who'd lose money in the casino, not to rich folks who stayed holed-up in their rooms. Hughes eventually solved the impasse by buying the whole Desert Inn for $14 million, which at the time was around double what the place seemed to be worth. (Next year, there will be individual paintings on the property that cost that much.) Eventually, Hughes purchased other Vegas hotels, including the Frontier — aka The New Frontier — right across the street.
Howard Hughes was the richest man in the world in the 70's. 
I loved it. It was very nice.
1 - jar of Alfredo Sauce
