By
DENNIS OVERBYE
Published: May 7, 2007
Kaboom, indeed.
In a cascade of superlatives that belies the traditional cerebral reserve of their profession, astronomers reported today that they had seen the brightest and most powerful stellar explosion ever recorded.
The cataclysm — a monster more than a hundred times as energetic as the typical supernova in which the more massive stars end their lives — might be an example of a completely new type of explosion, astronomers said. Such a blast — proposed but never seen — would explain how the earliest and most massive stars in the universe ended their lives and strewed new elements across space to fertilize future stars and planets...
Eta Carinae could blow up sooner than we thought, Dr. Smith said, noting that it could be tomorrow, it could be thousands of years from now. Astronomers have no way of telling.
Even if it did blow as the new supernova did last fall, at a distance of around 7,500 light years, Eta Carinae would be unlikely to cause any serious harm to
Earth, astronomers said.
The explosion would be visible in the daylight and at night you would be able to read a book by its light.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/07/sc...ml?ref=science
The SN was in NGC 1260.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/art...supernova.html
Would be hard to see the local DSO if eta Car blew up!