Hubble Spots a Mysterious Flash of Light That Raises New Questions About a Long-Puzzling Cosmic Phenomenon

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Transcript

00:00Recently the Hubble Space Telescope captured a strange and mysterious phenomenon.

00:10It was a bright flash of light, known as a luminous fast blue optical transient or LFBOT.

00:15But this one was particularly strange.

00:17That's because it came from a vast empty area of space,

00:21confusing scientists even further about these already little understood flashes of light.

00:25Experts believe that LFBOTs are caused when a star goes supernova,

00:29but rather than explode in an energetic release that can often be observed for months,

00:33it's thought that LFBOTs occur when a star experiences a core collapse,

00:37which results in a much more truncated flash.

00:39But this one, which they are now calling Finch,

00:41happened 15,000 light years from the closest galaxy in an area of extremely empty space,

00:46meaning it couldn't have been a supernova star.

00:49With ESA research fellow Ashley Crimes saying about it,

00:52quote,

00:53We've now shown that LFBOTs can occur a long way from the center of the nearest galaxy,

00:57and the location of the Finch is not what we expect for any kind of supernova.

01:01So what is it?

01:02Well, there are a couple of theories,

01:03one of which involves a black hole swallowing stars.

01:06Another involves a duo of rogue stars smashing into one another,

01:09causing a massive kilonova.

01:11However, more scientific observations are needed to confirm any theory.

01:15Confirm any theory.