An artist's concept depicts a supermassive black hole in the process of shredding to pieces a massive star at least 30 times the mass of the sun. R. Hurt/Caltech

Astronomers have spotted the largest and most distant flare ever observed from a supermassive black hole. Nicknamed “Superman,” the flare originated 10 billion light-years from Earth, and at its peak, the light emitted shone with the brightness of 10 trillion suns.

The source of the flare is an active galactic nucleus, or AGN — a bright, compact region at the center of a galaxy — and it’s powered by a supermassive black hole that is actively feeding on material. Gas and dust fall into a rotating disk around the black hole, and as the debris spirals more rapidly, it becomes superheated, releasing intense radiation.

Researchers

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