Q A stellar explosion almost 600 billion times brighter than the sun pushes the limits of physics By Lee Billings on January 14, 2016 http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/found-the-most-powerful-supernova-ever-seen/ Astronomers have glimpsed the most powerful supernova ever seen, a star in a galaxy billions of light-years away that exploded with such force it briefly shone nearly 600 billion times brighter than our Sun and 20 times brighter than all the stars in the Milky Way combined. The explosion released 10 times more energy than the Sun will radiate in 10 billion years. If the supernova took place in our own galaxy, it would be easily seen by the naked eye even during the day; if it were 10,000 light-years away, it would appear to us at night as bright as the crescent Moon. If it were only as far away as Sirius, which at a distance of 8.6 light-years is the brightest star in the nighttime sky, it would blaze overhead almost as powerfully as the Sun. If it were as close as Pluto, it would vaporize the Earth and all the other worlds in our solar system. ... ... UQ