Dark Energy Survey detects most distant supernova ever recorded
Astronomers from the University of Southampton have led the discovery of a huge cosmic explosion that took place 10.5 billion years ago, the oldest supernova ever studied.
The exploding star was detected as part of the Dark Energy Survey after rays of light travelled for three quarters of the Universeââ¬â¢s near 14 billion year history.
The international study, headed by lead author Dr Mathew Smith from Southamptonââ¬â¢s Department of Physics and Astronomy, is learning more about dark energy through the mapping of several hundred million galaxies. The ââ¬Åextremely distant, extremely bright and extremely rareââ¬Â discovery, named DES16C2nm, has been published in The Astrophysical Journal.