Tag: LFBOT

hubble-space-telescope-light-bursts-galaxies
Artwork illustrating a highly magnetised neutron star (a magnetar) orbited by asteroids. Magnetars have exceedingly powerful magnetic fields, trillions of times stronger than Earth's own field and even more powerful than regular neutron stars or pulsars. Recently, astronomers have suggested that asteroids might be orbiting some of these stellar corpses, leading to the emission of so-called fast-radio bursts (FRBs). The idea is that asteroids orbiting within the magnetar's wind - a stream of fast particles emitted from its surface - carve a wake in the wind, leading to the generation of an electric current around the wake. When the magnetar's wind crosses the wake, a magnetic disturbance is created which generates an extremely intense and narrow beam of radio energy. In 2020, astronomers detected the first FRB from a magnetar - called SGR 1935+2154 - located within our own galaxy. The entire event was over in a fraction of a second.
Estimated read time 3 min read
Space

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope finds bizarre explosion in unexpected place

October 10, 2023

NASA Hubble Space Telescope – LFBOTs are among the most brilliant visible-light events in the cosmos, resembling unexpected camera flashbulbs going off in the darkness of space. Since the first discovery in 2018, only a handful of these events have been detected, occurring roughly once a year. These luminous bursts briefly illuminate the universe before fading away, leaving astronomers eager to understand their origins.