Scientists detect biggest explosion since Big Bang

Scientists have detected evidence of a colossal explosion in space – five times bigger than anything observed before.

The huge release of energy is thought to have emanated from a supermassive black hole some 390 million light years from Earth.

The eruption is said to have left a giant dent in the Ophiuchus galaxy cluster.

Researchers reported their findings in The Astrophysical Journal.

They had long thought there was something strange about Ophiuchus galaxy cluster, which is a giant aggregation containing thousands of individual galaxies intermingled with hot gas and dark matter. X-ray telescopes had spied a curious curved edge to it.

The speculation was that this might be the wall of a cavity that had been sculpted in its gas by emissions from a central black hole.

Black holes are famous for gorging on infalling matter, but they will also expel prodigious amounts of material and energy in the form of jets.

Read more via BBC/ The Guardian/ The Astrophysical Journal

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