Have you ever heard of mysterious blue bursts of light happening in empty space? Scientists have been spotting these strange bursts, and they still aren’t entirely sure what's causing them. They are super powerful but don’t seem to be connected to any stars or galaxies we know about. Some experts think it could be a new kind of cosmic event that we’ve never seen before. They’re still investigating, but these blue flashes are definitely keeping space enthusiasts on the edge of their seats. It’s like the universe is throwing a surprise party, and we’re still figuring out the guest list! #brightside Animation is created by Bright Side. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/ Listen to Bright Side on: Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/idhttps-podcasts-apple-com-podcast-bright-side/id1554898078 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our Social Media: Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/brightside/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/brightside.official/ Tik Tok - https://www.tiktok.com/@brightside.official?lang=en Snapchat - https://www.snapchat.com/p/c6a1e38a-bff1-4a40-9731-2c8234ccb19f/1866144599336960 Stock materials (photos, footages and other): https://www.depositphotos.com https://www.shutterstock.com https://www.eastnews.ru ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me
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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!