PS1-10adi is an unusual kind of highly energetic

optical transient Time-domain astronomy is the study of how astronomical objects change with time. Though the study may be said to begin with Galileo's ''Letters on Sunspots'', the term now refers especially to variable objects beyond the Solar System. This may be ...

discovered by the

Pan-STARRS The Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS1; List of observatory codes, obs. code: IAU code#F51, F51 and Pan-STARRS2 obs. code: IAU code#F52, F52) located at Haleakala Observatory, Hawaii, US, consists of astronomical c ...

survey on 15 August 2010. The explosion or transient event emitted 2.3×10⁵² ergs (2.3×10⁴⁵ Joules), exceeding

ASASSN-15lh ASASSN-15lh ( supernova designation SN 2015L) is an extremely luminous astronomical transient event discovered by the All Sky Automated Survey for SuperNovae (ASAS-SN), with the appearance of a superluminous supernova event. It was first detect ...

. It may be a

superluminous supernova A super-luminous supernova (SLSN, plural super luminous supernovae or SLSNe) is a type of stellar explosion with a luminosity 10 or more times higher than that of standard supernovae. Like supernovae, SLSNe seem to be produced by several mech ...

or a

stellar disruption A tidal disruption event (TDE) is an astronomical phenomenon that occurs when a star approaches sufficiently close to a supermassive black hole (SMBH) to be pulled apart by the black hole's tidal force, experiencing spaghettification. A portion ...

event. The magnitude of the explosion challenges the limits of the current models for theoretical physics. The event happened near the centre of J204244.74+153032.1 (a point in

Delphinus Delphinus (Pronounced or ) is a small constellation in the Northern Celestial Hemisphere, close to the celestial equator. Its name is the Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-Europea ...

, specifically

right ascension Right ascension (abbreviated RA; symbol ) is the angular distance of a particular point measured eastward along the celestial equator from the Sun at the March equinox to the (hour circle of the) point in question above the earth. When paired w ...

in usual

sexagesimal Sexagesimal, also known as base 60 or sexagenary, is a numeral system with sixty as its base. It originated with the ancient Sumerians in the 3rd millennium BC, was passed down to the ancient Babylonians, and is still used—in a modified form� ...

and then

declination In astronomy, declination (abbreviated dec; symbol ''δ'') is one of the two angles that locate a point on the celestial sphere in the equatorial coordinate system, the other being hour angle. Declination's angle is measured north or south of the ...

in decimal terms, with the point/spacing moved four places to the right in both cases). The optical transient peaked at two magnitudes brighter than its host galaxy, and remained brighter for 1000 days. Its distance can be implied by its galaxy's red shift of 0.203. Balmer emission lines due to hot hydrogen showed relative motions of up to 900 km/s. The lines also had a red shoulder. There was also a hot black body continuum spectrum showing temperatures dropping from 11,000K. No X-rays or radio waves were detected from the source. Similar optical transients include PS1-13jw, CSS100217, J094806, J094608, and J233454.

References

Hypernovae # Delphinus (constellation) {{star-stub