Astronomers have recorded the most powerful cosmic flare that lasts more than three years - it is 10 times brighter than any supernova

Scientists from the University of Southampton in the UK were able to see the most powerful

cosmic flare. It is called AT2021lwx and lasts for more than three years.

What is known

The recorded outbreak of AT2021lwx occurred ondistance of 8 billion light years from our planet. At that time, the universe was only 6 billion years old. The event has been going on for more than three years, while supernova explosions are usually only visible for a few months.

AT2021lwx is 10 times brighter than any knownsupernovae and three times brighter than a burst of tidal disruption. The last event occurs during the fall of a star into a black hole. The leader in terms of brightness is the gamma-ray burst GRB 221009A. It was recorded last year and is considered the brightest explosion in the history of observations.

So far, there is no exact explanation why the outbreakAT2021lwx proved to be so long. One hypothesis is that the supermassive black hole has swallowed up a gas cloud thousands of times the size of the Sun. Astronomers will continue to observe the object to test their hypotheses.