The Mystery of AT2021lwx: Astronomers Suspect Black Hole Triggered Biggest Cosmic Explosion in 6 Billion Years

Astronomers still don’t know for sure what caused the biggest cosmic explosion in the universe, named AT2021lwx. However, astronomers suspect the explosion, which is roughly 100 times the energy of the sun, was triggered by black hole activity. Astronomers say that in the universe’s 6 billion year old activity, this is the most powerful cosmic explosion.

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This explosion is also the most mysterious because it lasts for many years and is 10 times as bright as a supernova. “Most of the supernova events and tidal disruption (tidal disruption) or bright flashes that occur when a black hole rips apart a wandering star, only last for a few months. For a bright object to occur for more than two years is very unusual,” said Philip Wiseman, astronomer at the University of Southampton in England, quoted by SINDOnews from the Live Science page, Tuesday (16/5/2023).

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Astronomers suspect the cataclysmic event AT2021lwx, which is 8 billion light years from Earth, was triggered by a messy black hole. Indeed, the cause is still mysterious, it’s just that the biggest possibility is due to a giant cloud of hydrogen gas that is thousands of times bigger than the sun being devoured by a supermassive black hole. For details, see the infographic