Scientists find ‘unusual, intense blast of energy’ from nearby galaxy

A massive blast of light considered extremely rare and is believed to have been triggered by the collision of stars with a black hole that hit the Earth recently and which could help change our understanding of the universe, scientists revealed.

The event called a gamma-ray burst (GRB), which lasted for only 50 seconds, came from a nearby galaxy in December 2021. These blasts are considered to be the most powerful explosions in the universe.

Earlier, it was believed that GRBs only resulted from the destruction of massive stars, but astronomers now believe that it can come from the combination of two neutron stars.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

After the massive GRBs hit the Earth last year, scientists started searching for the afterglow that such blasts leave behind, as it helps to find where the blast has come from.

However, the researchers found something else entirely. They traced the blast from a kilonava— a rare event that happens after the merger of a neutron star with either another star or a black hole.

According to astronomers, these events happen very rarely.

“This event represents an exciting paradigm shift for gamma-ray-burst astronomy,” said Jillian Rastinejad, a doctoral candidate in the Northwestern University Department of Physics and Astronomy who led the research, in a statement.

According to them, the blast, which has been named GRB 211211A, was relatively long with more infrared light than expected.

Astronomers believe that the explosion produced elements such as gold and platinum.

The researchers’ findings also found that this event produced heavy elements that amounted to roughly 1000 times the mass of our Earth.

“When we followed this long gamma-ray burst, we expected it would lead to evidence of a massive star collapse,” said Northwestern’s Wen-fai Fong, a senior author on the study.

“Instead, what we found was very different. When I entered the field 15 years ago, it was set in stone that long gamma-ray bursts come from massive star collapses.

(With inputs from agencies)

WATCH WION LIVE HERE: