Latest news with #Gaia18cdj
BBC News
09-06-2025
- Science
- BBC News
Scientists see amazing star explosion like never before
Astronomers have discovered some of the largest explosions ever recorded in the in the journal Science Advances, experts say the blasts give out ten times as much energy in one year that our Sun will put out during its entire very advanced telescopes, scientists were able to see this new rare cosmic explosions which they have called 'extreme nuclear transients'. (ENTs).The explosions happen due to massive stars getting ripped apart by black holes. How do these huge explosions happen and how big are they? Extreme nuclear transients (ENTs) explosions occur when a supermassive black hole eats a huge star. The massive star is torn to pieces as it goes too close to the black hole. When this happens a huge amount of energy is released. One of these ENTs, which astronomers have named Gaia18cdj, released over 25 times more energy than the most powerful supernova ever discovered. The amount of energy it released is the same as 100 suns release in their entire lifetime! The project to discover what these explosion actually are has been years in the making. ENTs are rare and hard to find, but it is hoped that new upcoming equipment will help more of them be findings not only set a new record for cosmic explosions, but also open up exciting possibilities for future discoveries in the vast universe.
Economic Times
09-06-2025
- Science
- Economic Times
The biggest explosion since the Big Bang; Star ripped apart by a Black Hole unleashes history's most powerful and brightest known explosion
TIL Creatives Astronomers discover new class of extreme outbursts shining 25 times brighter than the strongest supernovae Imagine a star, more than three times the mass of our Sun, straying too close to a supermassive black hole. Instead of quietly fading, it's torn apart, and what follows is one of the most powerful explosions ever witnessed. Astronomers now call these titanic outbursts Extreme Nuclear Transients, or ENTs, and they may be the most energetic cosmic phenomena since the universe's inception. ENTs stand apart from regular tidal disruption events (TDEs) and supernovae by a staggering margin. The largest event recorded, named 'Gaia18cdj', unleashed 25 times more energy than the most powerful supernova ever found, equivalent to what 100 Suns would emit over their entire lifetimes, concentrated in a year. The discovery was led by Jason Hinkle, a doctoral researcher at the University of Hawai'i's Institute for Astronomy. While combing through data from ESA's Gaia mission, Hinkle noticed something odd: smooth, long‑lasting flares from galactic centers that looked nothing like typical cosmic fireworks. 'Gaia doesn't tell you what a transient is, but when I saw these smooth, long‑lived flares… I knew we were looking at something unusual,' Hinkle said Two such flares were traced to 2016 and 2018, with a third dubbed 'Scary Barbie' detected by the Zwicky Transient Facility in 2020. Follow‑up observations from the WM Keck Observatory and other telescopes confirmed their extraordinary brightness and behave differently from more common cosmic explosions. Typical TDEs brighten and fade within weeks, but ENTs linger for months or even years, shining nearly ten times brighter than any previously studied events For co‑author Benjamin Shappee, ENTs offer something deeper than just fireworks.'ENTs provide a valuable new tool for studying massive black holes in distant galaxies, and we gain insights into black‑hole growth when the universe was half its current age,' he rare, estimated to be ten million times less frequent than supernovae, these cosmic giants offer a powerful way to study black holes in action. With upcoming telescopes like the Vera C. Rubin Observatory and NASA's Roman Space Telescope, astronomers expect to find more ENTs, painting a richer picture of how black holes shaped our cosmos. As Hinkle puts it, 'This was the final piece of my doctoral work… thrilling to think we're opening a new chapter in understanding how stars die and how black holes shape the universe.'
Time of India
09-06-2025
- Science
- Time of India
The biggest explosion since the Big Bang; Star ripped apart by a Black Hole unleashes history's most powerful and brightest known explosion
Imagine a star, more than three times the mass of our Sun , straying too close to a supermassive black hole . Instead of quietly fading, it's torn apart, and what follows is one of the most powerful explosions ever witnessed. Astronomers now call these titanic outbursts Extreme Nuclear Transients , or ENTs, and they may be the most energetic cosmic phenomena since the universe's inception. ENTs stand apart from regular tidal disruption events (TDEs) and supernovae by a staggering margin. The largest event recorded, named 'Gaia18cdj', unleashed 25 times more energy than the most powerful supernova ever found, equivalent to what 100 Suns would emit over their entire lifetimes, concentrated in a year. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like The price of dental implants may surprise you Dental Implants | Search Ads Search Now The discovery was led by Jason Hinkle, a doctoral researcher at the University of Hawai'i's Institute for Astronomy. While combing through data from ESA's Gaia mission , Hinkle noticed something odd: smooth, long‑lasting flares from galactic centers that looked nothing like typical cosmic fireworks. 'Gaia doesn't tell you what a transient is, but when I saw these smooth, long‑lived flares… I knew we were looking at something unusual,' Hinkle said Live Events Two such flares were traced to 2016 and 2018, with a third dubbed 'Scary Barbie' detected by the Zwicky Transient Facility in 2020. Follow‑up observations from the WM Keck Observatory and other telescopes confirmed their extraordinary brightness and longevity. ENTs behave differently from more common cosmic explosions . Typical TDEs brighten and fade within weeks, but ENTs linger for months or even years, shining nearly ten times brighter than any previously studied events For co‑author Benjamin Shappee, ENTs offer something deeper than just fireworks. 'ENTs provide a valuable new tool for studying massive black holes in distant galaxies, and we gain insights into black‑hole growth when the universe was half its current age,' he said. While rare, estimated to be ten million times less frequent than supernovae, these cosmic giants offer a powerful way to study black holes in action. With upcoming telescopes like the Vera C. Rubin Observatory and NASA's Roman Space Telescope, astronomers expect to find more ENTs, painting a richer picture of how black holes shaped our cosmos . As Hinkle puts it, 'This was the final piece of my doctoral work… thrilling to think we're opening a new chapter in understanding how stars die and how black holes shape the universe.'
NDTV
06-06-2025
- Science
- NDTV
Astronomers Uncover Most Powerful Explosion Since The Big Bang
Astronomers from the University of Hawai'i's Institute for Astronomy have identified a new class of cosmic explosions, termed "extreme nuclear transients" (ENTs), marking the most energetic events observed since the Big Bang. These phenomena occur when massive stars, at least three times the mass of our Sun, are torn apart by supermassive black holes at the centres of distant galaxies. The resulting explosions release energy equivalent to what 100 Suns would emit over their entire lifespans, making them visible across vast cosmic distances. This discovery offers new insights into the dynamic interactions between stars and black holes in the universe. The team's findings were detailed today in the journal Science Advances. "We've observed stars getting ripped apart as tidal disruption events for over a decade, but these ENTs are different beasts, reaching brightnesses nearly ten times more than what we typically see," said Jason Hinkle, in a statement, who led the study as the final piece of his doctoral research at IfA. "Not only are ENTs far brighter than normal tidal disruption events, but they remain luminous for years, far surpassing the energy output of even the brightest known supernova explosions." The immense luminosities and energies of these ENTs are truly unprecedented. The most energetic ENT studied, named Gaia18cdj, emitted an astonishing 25 times more energy than the most energetic supernovae known. While typical supernovae emit as much energy in just one year as the sun does in its 10 billion-year lifetime, ENTs radiate the energy of 100 suns over a single year. As per a news release by W M Keck Observatory, ENTs were first uncovered when Hinkle began a systematic search of public transient surveys for long-lived flares emanating from the centres of galaxies. He identified two unusual flares in data from the European Space Agency's Gaia mission that brightened over a timescale much longer than known transients and without characteristics common to known transients. "Gaia doesn't tell you what a transient is, just that something changed in brightness," said Hinkle. "But when I saw these smooth, long-lived flares from the centres of distant galaxies, I knew we were looking at something unusual."
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Astronomers discover most powerful cosmic explosions since the Big Bang
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Astronomers have discovered the most powerful cosmic explosions since the Big Bang, naming them "extreme nuclear transients." These incredibly energetic explosions occur when stars with masses at least three times greater than that of the sun are torn apart by supermassive black holes. While such events have been witnessed before, astronomers say some of the ones recently discovered are powerful enough to be classified as a new phenomenon: extreme nuclear transients (ENTs). "We've observed stars getting ripped apart as tidal disruption events for over a decade, but these ENTs are different beasts, reaching brightnesses nearly ten times more than what we typically see," said Jason Hinkle, a researcher at the University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy (IfA) who led a study on these events, in a statement. "When I saw these smooth, long-lived flares from the centers of distant galaxies, I knew we were looking at something unusual." Hinkle discovered the existence of these ENTs while combing through data gathered on long-lasting flares originating from galactic centers. Two flares caught Hinkle's eye, recorded by the European Space Agency's Gaia spacecraft in 2016 and 2018, respectively. A third event discovered in 2020 by the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) appeared similar to the two phenomena discovered by Gaia, which gave researchers clues that these belonged to a new class of extreme cosmic explosions. That's because these events appeared to release far more energy than other known star explosions, or supernovas, and seemed to last much longer. These explosions also differed from tidal disruption events (TDEs), which are massive releases of energy that occur when extreme gravitational forces around black holes rip stars apart, flinging much of their mass outward into space. But TDEs typically last only a matter of hours; the events studied by Hinkle and other researchers appeared to last much longer. "Not only are ENTs far brighter than normal tidal disruption events, but they remain luminous for years, far surpassing the energy output of even the brightest known supernova explosions," Hinkle said in the statement. One of these ENTs, which astronomers have named Gaia18cdj, released over 25 times more energy than the most powerful supernova ever discovered, more than the amount of energy that would be released by 100 suns throughout their entire lifetime. RELATED STORIES: — The most powerful explosions in the universe could reveal where gold comes from — 'Shocking' nova explosion of dead star was 100 times brighter than the sun — Astronomers discover black hole ripping a star apart inside a galactic collision. 'It is a peculiar event' Aside from being the most powerful known explosions in the universe, ENTs can help astronomers learn more about monster black holes in faraway galaxies. That's because the incredible brightness of these events means they can be seen across vast distances, according to IfA's Benjamin Shappee, who co-authored the study. "By observing these prolonged flares, we gain insights into black hole growth when the universe was half its current age and galaxies were busy places — forming stars and feeding their supermassive black holes 10 times more vigorously than they do today," Shappee said in the statement. A study on this discovery was published June 4 in the journal Science Advances.
