Southampton, UK - Astronomers have uncovered the largest cosmic explosion ever witnessed!

The explosion is more than 10 times brighter than any known supernova and three times brighter than the brightest tidal disruption event, where a star falls into a supermassive black hole. At its high point, it was "about two trillion times brighter than the Sun," according to the scientists.

The explosion, known as AT2021lwx, has currently lasted more than three years, compared to most supernovae which are only visibly bright for a few months.

According to the study, it took place nearly eight billion light years away, when the universe was around six billion years old, and is still being detected by a network of telescopes.

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The astronomers, led by the University of Southampton, believe the explosion is a result of a vast cloud of gas, possibly thousands of times larger than our sun, that has been violently disrupted by a supermassive black hole.

Fragments of the cloud would be swallowed up, sending shockwaves through its remnants, as well as into a large dusty "doughnut" surrounding the black hole.

Such events are very rare and nothing on this scale has been witnessed before, the researchers say.