It looks like type Ia supernovae may not be such good "standard candles" after all... here's one which seems to have had a progenitor above the Chandrasekhar limit.
Some possibilities: it could be the merger of two white dwarfs, or possibly a rapidly rotating white dwarf (this would enable it to be above the Chandrasekhar limit).
Might have a few implications for galactic distances.
A new kind of type Ia supernovae?
This is very interesting.
Firstly, would that lead to the subclassification of Type Ia supernovae into Type Iaa and Type Iab?
And secondly, if not all Type Ia supernovae are the same, it has implications for the current theory that the expansion of the universe is accelerating. It might mean the rate of acceleration is different to the currently accepted value - or even that there is no acceleration at all.
Firstly, would that lead to the subclassification of Type Ia supernovae into Type Iaa and Type Iab?
And secondly, if not all Type Ia supernovae are the same, it has implications for the current theory that the expansion of the universe is accelerating. It might mean the rate of acceleration is different to the currently accepted value - or even that there is no acceleration at all.