Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Queen’s team probing huge galactic blast
ULSTER scientists are trying to figure out if a massive explosion in a distant galaxy was a huge star going supernova or a smaller one being ripped apart by a black hole.
An international team of researchers led by Dr Erkki Kankare, from the School of Mathematics and Physics at Queen’s, is studying the Ps1-10adi blast.
Using telescopes on La Palma and Hawaii, Dr Kankare detected an explosion so energetic it was either a supernova or the shredding of a smaller star by huge black hole.
Dr Kankare said: “If they are supernova explosions their properties are more extreme than ever seen and are likely connected to the central environments of the host galaxies.”