back to article Astro-boffins find new type of super-fast supernova

When a star goes supernova, it gets very, very bright, very, very quickly, then spends a good few months fading away. But boffins have now reported that an object named KSN 2015K faded away in just a fortnight. KSN 2015K was spotted by ground-based instruments in Chile and Australia, but was over so fast that astro-boffins …

  1. gypsythief
    Joke

    I'd reckon the denizens of the nearby planets were a bit star-struck when they FELT that shock-wave go by!

  2. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    Thumb Up

    ".. Kepler completely captured the rapid evolution..constrains the exotic ways..stars die.”

    So it's one of those rare events that lets you definitely rule out some theories and rule in others.

    Excellent work.

    The energy release from those few days must have been absolutely phenomenal. Literally an extinction level event for any nearby civilizations, although wheather they knew it was happening would be debatable.

    1. Paul Crawford Silver badge

      Re: "absolutely phenomenal"

      I think the term you were looking for was "astronomical":

      https://what-if.xkcd.com/73/

  3. Tom 7

    So its not going out in a new way its just lighting its last fart.

    For kicks and giggles.

    1. FozzyBear
      Flame

      Re: So its not going out in a new way its just lighting its last fart.

      So it's a Kenny Death event

  4. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

    Amazing.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Mass extinction

    It is theorized that an event very much like this caused one or more mass extinctions here on Earth.

    The good news is that if it happens again we will likely know very little about it: the radiation pulse would instantly and permanently fry nervous systems of anything more advanced than flatworms.

    On the flip side, Brexit will be the least of our concerns,

    https://www.space.com/33379-supernova-explosions-earth-life-mass-extinction.html

    http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Did_A_Massive_Solar_Proton_Event_Fry_The_Earth_999.html

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