Discovery of the most luminous galaxy in the local Universe

A team of astrophysicists led by Prof. Andreas Efstathiou of the School of Sciences of European University Cyprus announced this week in the famous scientific journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (Letters) the discovery of a galaxy which is probably the most luminous object in the local Universe. The galaxy was detected by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) in 1983 and is known as IRAS 08572+3915. The team of astrophysicists which consists of 20 scientists from 18 universities and research centers around the world (Oxford University, Imperial College London, Cornell University, Max-Planck Institute Germany, Heidelberg University, Virginia Tech, Sussex University, CEA-Saclay, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Open University- UK, European University Cyprus and others) calculated that this galaxy is about 5 times more luminous than what has been thought so far. This revision of its luminosity makes IRAS 08572+3915 the nearest hyperluminous infrared galaxy with luminosity more than 1013 times that of the sun and the most luminous object within a radius of about 1 billion light years. This revision is based on observations carried out with the Herschel Space Observatory and the Spitzer Space Telescope but also on detailed calculations carried out by the team. More information is available from Prof. Andreas Efstathiou ([email protected],  tel. 22713188, 99916783) or by visiting the webpage http://arxiv.org/abs/1309.7005.