PS1-10adi is an unusual and highly energetic optical transient 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 ...

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 dete ...

. It may be a

superluminous supernova A superluminous supernova (SLSN, plural superluminous 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 mechanism ...

or a stellar disruption 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 is a small constellation in the Northern Celestial Hemisphere, close to the celestial equator. Its name is the Latin version for the Greek word for dolphin (). It is one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Pt ...

, 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 equinox (celestial coordinates), March equinox to the (hour circle of the) point in questio ...

in usual

sexagesimal Sexagesimal, also known as base 60, is a numeral system with 60 (number), sixty as its radix, 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 fo ...

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. The declination angle is measured north (positive) or ...

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 {{var-star-stub