SGR 1806-20: the mother of all magnetic flares

A really big bang within the galaxy has recently occurred:

Stunned astronomers described yesterday the greatest cosmic explosion ever monitored — a starburst from the other side of the galaxy that was briefly brighter than the full Moon and swamped satellites and telescopes.
The high-radiation flash, detected Dec. 27, caused no harm to Earth but would have fried the planet had it occurred within a few light years of home.

Thanks to Jack for the pointer

Normally reserved skywatchers struggled for superlatives.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime event,” said Rob Fender of Southampton University in southern England.

“We have observed an object only 20 kilometres across, on the other
side of our galaxy, releasing more energy in a tenth of a second than the sun emits in 100,000 years.”

“It was the mother of all magnetic flares — a true monster,” said Kevin Hurley, a research physicist at the University of California at Berkeley.