Robert Quimby has an unusual distinction among astronomers. The Caltech postdoctoral researcher has discovered the two brightest star explosions ever witnessed within months of each other.

Quimby's latest find is supernova 2005ap, which at its peak blazed 100 billion times brighter than the sun and was twice as luminous as the previous record holder, a supernova called 2006gy, which he also discovered.

Quimby actually discovered supernova 2005ap first, but confirmation of the blast's luminosity required follow-up observations that were only recently completed.

"There I was, finding my first supernova. I was just happy to get anything," said Quimby, who was previously at the University of Texas in Austin. "It turned out to be the most luminous supernova ever found."

The 2005ap supernova finding will be detailed in the Oct. 20 issue of The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Future settlers take note: Galoshes and umbrellas are a must on Saturn's moon Titan, where mornings are eclipsed by dreary drizzles of methane.

Getting drenched would be the least of your worries, however, as Saturn's largest satellite plunges to a bone-chilling -297 degrees Fahrenheit (-183 degrees Celsius) at the surface and its swirling orange atmosphere is full of hydrocarbons, such as methane, which is natural gas—and no oxygen. 

"Crude oil minus the sulfur is a decent estimate of what the haze is," said lead author of a new study of Titan's weather, Mate Adamkovics, an astronomer at the University of California, Berkeley. "Really we don't know for sure, but I would describe it as tiny particles of wax that are really, really cold, or waxy snowflakes."

Adamkovics added that while scientists are not sure how toxic the particles are, the lack of oxygen would be much more of a hazard.