Azerbaijan National Academy of Science

Astronomers have spotted the remains of a ginormous eruption of gas, stellar material, and high-energy particles emanating from the center of distant galaxy cluster. It may be the biggest bang ever witnessed.

The team, led by Simona Giacintucci of the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington D.C., claims to have discovered the most powerful explosion ever recorded in the universe. The bright burst of energy was discovered in the Ophiuchus galaxy cluster, approximately 390 million light-years away from Earth.

In some cases, supermassive black holes spit out as much energy and material—if not more—than they slurp up, forming massive jets that stretch out into space. "In some ways, this blast is similar to how the eruption of Mt. St. Helens in 1980 ripped off the top of the mountain," Giacintucci said in a statement. "A key difference is that you could fit fifteen Milky Way galaxies in a row into the crater this eruption punched into the cluster's hot gas."

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