Photo: Brightest Known Supernova Detected

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An image from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) shows four galaxies (A, B, C, and D) in December 2004 (right).

Three months later, supernova 2005ap was discovered in the same region by the Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET). The star explosion was later found to be the brightest supernova ever found, at one point reaching a hundred billion times the brilliance of the sun.

Images by SDSS, R. Quimby/McDonald Obs./UT-Austin

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