According to observations by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and ground-based optical telescopes, the supernova SN 2006gy is the brightest and most energetic stellar explosion ever recorded and may be a long-sought new type of explosion. The bottom left panel is an infrared image, using adaptive optics at the Lick Observatory, of NGC 1260, the galaxy containing SN 2006gy. ... X ray: NASA/CXC/UC Berkeley/N.Smith et al.; Infrared: Lick/UC Berkeley/J.Bloom & C.Hansen ...