Space is full of extreme phenomena, but the “Tasmanian devil” may be one of the strangest and rarest cosmic events ever observed.
Months after astronomers witnessed the explosion of a distant star, they spotted something they had never seen before: energetic signs of life being released from the stellar corpse about 1 billion light-years from Earth. The short, bright flashes were as powerful as the original event that caused the star’s death.
Astronomers dubbed the celestial object the “Tasmanian devil” and observed it exploding repeatedly after its initial detection in September 2022. However, the initial stellar explosion that caused the star’s death was not a typical supernova, a star that explodes and ejects most of its mass before dying. Instead, it was a rare type of burst called a bright fast blue optical transient, or LFBOT.
LFBOTs shine brightly in blue light, reaching peak brightness and fading within days, while supernovae can take weeks or months to dim. The first LFBOT was discovered in 2018, and astronomers have been trying to determine the cause of these rare cataclysmic events ever since.
But the Tasmanian devil is revealing more questions than answers with his unexpected behavior. While LFBOTs are unusual events, the Tasmanian devil is even stranger, leading astronomers to question the processes behind the repetitive explosions.
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Source: CNN Brasil
Charles Grill is a tech-savvy writer with over 3 years of experience in the field. He writes on a variety of technology-related topics and has a strong focus on the latest advancements in the industry. He is connected with several online news websites and is currently contributing to a technology-focused platform.
