Astrophysicists figure out what caused a super-bright supernova

AN Artist’s conception of a magnetar surrounded by an accretion disk exhibiting lense-thirring precession, a phenomenon in which the fabric of space-time is twisted by the spinning magnetar.—Reuters WASHINGTON: A supernova — the explosion marking the end of a massive star’s life — is one of the brightest cosmic events, usually about a billion times more luminous than the sun. But some — a small fraction — are even bri­­g­­hter than that, 10 to 100 tim­es more luminous. These are call­...

By none@none.com (Reuters)