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Astrophysics: The true nature of transients

Early observations of the flaring object ASASSN-15lh led astronomers to cast it as the most luminous supernova ever. Now, convincing evidence indicates that this object is not as it seemed. In fact, fitting it into any known box is a challenge.

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Figure 1: ‘Phase space’ of optical transients.

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Correspondence to S. Bradley Cenko.

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Cenko, S. Astrophysics: The true nature of transients. Nat Astron 1, 0008 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-016-0008

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