00:00Strange explosions in vibrant blue colors are popping up around the universe and keeping
00:05astronomers intrigued.
00:08This rare and incredibly powerful event has a fancy name – Luminous Fast Blue Optical
00:14Transient.
00:15Hmm.
00:16This phenomenon doesn't behave like anything else we know of, and things got even stranger
00:22when the most recent one happened in a spot it shouldn't have.
00:26To really understand what happened last year, we need to go back a bit.
00:30This type of strange explosion was spotted first in June 2018.
00:35The blue blast happened about 200 million light-years from Earth and got the nickname
00:41the cow.
00:42No, this happening didn't resemble a cow at all, but it did have an unusual format.
00:48Back then, this blast was the most asymmetrical explosion ever seen by astronomers.
00:54It burst into space in a flattened pancake-like shape, not in a typical sphere as they would
01:00expect.
01:02This phenomenon was similar to a supernova, which is the most common type of cosmic explosion
01:08that happens when a star exhausts its nuclear fuel and collapses under its own gravity.
01:14However, scientists also noted three crucial differences.
01:18Number one, this phenomenon is more powerful than a typical supernova.
01:23When it happens, the blue burst emits more energy than an entire galaxy of hundreds of
01:29billions of stars like the Sun.
01:32Number two, it's much faster.
01:34The explosion reaches its peak brightness and fades away within a matter of days, while
01:39a supernova can take weeks or even months to completely dissipate.
01:44And the last difference, these blue bursts can also be much, much brighter.
01:49These mysterious objects are considered the brightest known optical phenomenon in the
01:54universe.
01:55But unlike a regular supernova, it's believed that there are no radioactive elements to
02:01power this brightness.
02:03So that means the power must come from somewhere else.
02:06The question is, from where?
02:09This is just one of the mysteries that the scientists are trying to figure out.
02:13There have been some heavy investigations since the event was first observed, and 15
02:19labs around the world are constantly looking for it.
02:22Since 2018, these extreme explosions have been spotted about once a year.
02:28So while they're rare, they're not incredibly uncommon.
02:33There are several possible explanations for the existence of these fast optical transients.
02:39Perhaps the most acceptable one is that it is a stellar corpse.
02:43I mean, what is left behind when a star calls it quits.
02:47So we're looking at two prime suspects here.
02:50It could be a neutron star, or a black hole, producing emissions close to the speed of
02:55light.
02:56The theory goes like this.
02:58There is a massive star much larger than those that produce regular supernovas.
03:04Then it starts to collapse.
03:06Such an event would certainly be expected to leave a black hole behind.
03:11Let's say this massive star isn't ready to leave the universe in a quiet way.
03:16Instead, it creates a swirling disk around the black hole composed of gas, dust, and
03:22other matter.
03:23Like it matters.
03:25This disk, called the accretion disk, can shoot out streams of material at incredibly
03:30high speeds, almost like powerful cosmic jets.
03:34And that could be exactly what we see as those sudden bursts of light.
03:38Again, it's just a theory.
03:40What exactly sets off these blasts remains a mystery.
03:44And much more observation and analysis are needed.
03:48Experts believe that explaining such an oddity is a scientific goldmine.
03:52After all, we're talking about a stellar corpse that isn't just sitting there.
03:57It's actually quite active.
04:00Since this event was first spotted, all similar occurrences that our telescopes have captured
04:05happen in the same place.
04:07I mean, the explosions always occurred in the spiral arms of different galaxies.
04:12But last year, things changed.
04:15The Hubble Space Telescope left scientists speechless in April 2023, when its images
04:21caught this same type of weird explosion happening for the first time in the middle of nowhere.
04:27Well, it didn't happen inside a galaxy, as it was supposed to.
04:32It happened in the space between two of them.
04:35More precisely, about 50,000 light-years from a large spiral galaxy and about 15,000 light-years
04:42from a small one.
04:44This event is known today as the Finch.
04:47Oh great, so when we finally get closer to finding some answers, the unusual location
04:53of the Finch phenomenon came to mess it up again.
04:56So maybe there is another explanation for it.
05:01Speculation began soon after the discovery.
05:04One idea is that it could've been a collision between two neutron stars traveling far outside
05:10their host galaxies.
05:12These two could've been spiraling toward each other for billions of years.
05:16And when they collided, they produced a flare over 100 times brighter than a normal supernova.
05:23For this hypothesis to be correct, one of these neutron stars would have to be highly
05:28magnetized, amplifying the explosion.
05:32Another possibility is that the explosion was a star, being torn apart by a black hole
05:37with a mass between 100 and 1,000 times that of the Sun.
05:43Although we still have lots of questions, one thing is for sure.
05:47The Finch is a luminous, fast black optical transient.
05:52Except for the weird location where it happened, it has all the other characteristics to be
05:57classified as one.
05:58It's super bright, like me, and super fast, and its origin is super hard to explain.
06:04Plus, the data from the Gemini South Telescope, the Chandra X-ray Telescope, and the Very
06:10Large Array Radio Telescope have confirmed it.
06:14Adding this latest information only makes it harder and harder for researchers to finally
06:19find some kind of pattern in this whole event.
06:23The Finch isn't the only peculiar event in this category.
06:26Let's head back to the year before, to 2022.
06:30A blue explosion was spotted in September, and it got the nickname of Tasmanian Devil.
06:37Just like the previous ones, this blue burst came up and disappeared very quickly.
06:42Then something mysterious happened.
06:45Exactly 100 days later, observers who were still tracking the phenomenon got an early
06:51Christmas gift.
06:52They observed another flare-up, and it was as bright and fascinating as the original
06:57one.
06:58So, we're talking about two similar and strange explosions that happened at the same
07:04spot and close in time?
07:06Well, this was a first!
07:08Quickly, 13 telescopes around the globe all had eyes turned toward the Tasmanian Devil
07:15event, including one equipped with a high-speed camera.
07:19Over the course of 120 days, they managed to capture another 14 irregular light pulses.
07:26This was certainly amazing because it proved that instead of showing up once and fading
07:31away as expected, the Tasmanian Devil continued to explode with supernova-like energies again
07:38and again and again!
07:40Can you imagine such power?
07:43This scenario still intrigues the scientific community because it pushes the limits of
07:47physics.
07:48Not only because of such extreme energy production, but also because of the short-duration bursts.
07:55By the way, its flares last from 10 minutes to about 4 hours.
08:00Believe me, on the scale of the Universe, that's considered super, super quick.
08:06This was the only time that an extended season of this event was observed.
08:11However, after some thought, the scientific community split their opinions about it.
08:16On one hand, the Tasmanian Devil could've been an utterly unique and one-of-a-kind event.
08:22On the other hand, maybe it was just the first time that our telescopes caught it from
08:27a more face-on angle.
08:30To further understand what's happening, scientists still need to observe larger samples
08:35of the phenomenon.
08:37All hopes are in the upcoming Vera C. Rubin Observatory, which is currently being constructed
08:42in Chile.
08:43It will have a 27.5-foot-wide telescope coupled with the world's largest digital camera
08:50ever fabricated for this purpose.
08:53According to NASA, this technology might finally give us some answers about these blue explosions.
08:59We can expect some exciting times ahead, as this could be the start of a new chapter in
09:05our understanding of stellar evolution.
09:10That's it for today, so hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like
09:14and share it with your friends.
09:16Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the Bright Side!
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