Back in 2016, astronomers observed a cosmic explosion within a tiny galaxy 500 million light-years. In a new study, the explosion was found to be a new class of object that is one of the biggest cosmic bursts recorded yet.
Senior author of the study, Raffaella Margutti from Northwestern University says, “There is a new beast out there, and it’s able to produce the same energetic phenomenon” as the collapse of a massive star or the merger of two neutron stars.
The explosion, CRTS-CSS161010J045834-081803 was found to be a fast blue optical transient object or simply, an FBOT. It is located in a dwarf galaxy near the constellation Eridanus that hosts about 10 million stars, a lot less compared to our Milky Way Galaxy. Its location is similar to other FBOT objects that have been found in dwarf galaxies as well but the newly discovered transient object was the biggest yet.
AT2018COW, nicknamed ‘The Cow’, is one such rare FBOT event that is thought to have occurred during the birth of a neutron star or a black hole. These cosmic explosions are initially detected in the optical wavelength as they glow blue because of their high temperatures. The cosmic bursts then rise until they reach the peak of brightness following which, they start to decay. This happens at rates comparatively faster than standard supernovae.
Comments
Post a Comment
If you have any doubt let me know in the comment section where i can try to solve it .
Thank you