In September of last year, the brightest supernova ever detected, supernova SN 2006gy, located 240 million light-years away, brewed into an explosion 50 billion times brighter than that of the sun. This is about 100 times brighter than the flash of a typical dying star.
One theory concerning the cause of the supernova states that it was probably caused by a truly enormous star at least 100 times more massive than the sun. Also, it did not blow up just once, but several times. A rival theory by Dutch astronomers Dr Simon Portegies Zwart and Professor Edward van den Heuval of the University of Amsterdam suggest that the supernova could not have been caused by a single star, but from two very large stars that collided.
See the full article: http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/2007/2091885.htm?space
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