Apr 13, 2024 07:38 PM
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-68787534
INTRO: Researchers have discovered the cause of the brightest burst of light ever recorded. But in doing so they have run up against two bigger mysteries, including one that casts doubt on where our heavy elements - like gold - come from.
The burst of light, spotted in 2022, is now known to have had an exploding star at its heart, researchers say. But that explosion, by itself, would not have been sufficient to have shone so brightly.
And our current theory says that some exploding stars, known as supernovas, might also produce the heavy elements in the universe such as gold and platinum. But the team found none of these elements, raising new questions about how precious metals are produced.
Prof Catherine Heymans of Edinburgh University and Scotland's Astronomer Royal, who is independent of the research team, said that results like these help to drive science forward. "The Universe is an amazing, wonderful and surprising place, and I love the way that it throws these conundrums at us!
"The fact that it is not giving us the answers we want is great, because we can go back to the drawing board and think again and come up with better theories," she said.
The explosion was detected by telescopes in October 2022. It came from a distant galaxy 2.4 billion light-years away, emitting light across all frequencies... (MORE - details)
PAPER: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-024-02237-4
INTRO: Researchers have discovered the cause of the brightest burst of light ever recorded. But in doing so they have run up against two bigger mysteries, including one that casts doubt on where our heavy elements - like gold - come from.
The burst of light, spotted in 2022, is now known to have had an exploding star at its heart, researchers say. But that explosion, by itself, would not have been sufficient to have shone so brightly.
And our current theory says that some exploding stars, known as supernovas, might also produce the heavy elements in the universe such as gold and platinum. But the team found none of these elements, raising new questions about how precious metals are produced.
Prof Catherine Heymans of Edinburgh University and Scotland's Astronomer Royal, who is independent of the research team, said that results like these help to drive science forward. "The Universe is an amazing, wonderful and surprising place, and I love the way that it throws these conundrums at us!
"The fact that it is not giving us the answers we want is great, because we can go back to the drawing board and think again and come up with better theories," she said.
The explosion was detected by telescopes in October 2022. It came from a distant galaxy 2.4 billion light-years away, emitting light across all frequencies... (MORE - details)
PAPER: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-024-02237-4