On July 2, something cool happened in space! Astronomers saw a powerful blast that lasted more than seven hours. Meet GRB 250702B – the longest cosmic fireworks show ever seen! Usually, these space fireworks, called gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) flash and vanish in just a few seconds, but GRB 250702B kept shining for hours. Where did it come from and what set it off? Astronomers got super curious and wanted to find out!
A team of researchers began investigating the fireworks under different kinds of light – like detectives with special glasses that allowed them to see different colours of light our eyes can’t see. Their first clue: the burst happened in a galaxy outside our Milky Way.
Just like real fireworks leave glowing trails in the sky, these cosmic explosions left behind a fading afterglow in its surroundings. Another group of scientists began chasing this glowing trail using three powerful ground-based telescopes located in Chile and Hawai’i. The afterglow contains important clues on what exactly set off this spectacular show.
By looking at all the data, the team figured out that the gamma-rays were coming from a high-speed jet of material bumping into the surrounding space stuff. Astronomers call this a relativistic jet. They found huge clouds of dust around the burst, and that the galaxy where it happened is way bigger than most galaxies that host these events.
The team thinks there are three possible ways GRB 250702B might have originated. One, when a black hole falls into a huge star mostly made of Helium. Two, when a star, planet or brown dwarf gets ripped apart on a close flyby with a stellar black hole or a neutron star. Three, when a star falls into a special medium-sized black hole and gets torn apart – and if this theory is true, it would be the first time anyone has ever seen something like this!
Astronomers are still searching for more clues to solve this cosmic mystery. Discoveries like these inspire us to keep learning about our vast universe and the exciting surprises it holds.
(Space Scoop)
