Tags: Star.
SN 2005ap was an extremely energetic type II supernova. It is reported to be the brightest supernova yet recorded twice as bright as the previous record holder SN 2006gy. It was discovered on 3 March 2005 on unfiltered optical images taken with the 0.45 m ROTSE-IIIb (Robotic Optical Transient Search Experiment) telescope which is located at the McDonald observatory in West Texas by Robert Quimby as part of the Texas Supernova Search that also discovered SN 2006gy.