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Cosmic Explosion Breaks Records, Baffling Scientists

KOMPAS.com – A bizarre cosmic explosion outside of our galaxy has left scientists scrambling for answers. The phenomenon, captured by NASA’s Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope, is not only the longest ever observed, but also defies existing scientific explanations.

In early July, the telescope detected an odd cosmic event: a gamma-ray burst (GRB) lasting nearly a full day. Typically, grbs last only milliseconds to a few minutes. This event, now officially named GRB 250702BDE, was reported in The Astrophysical Journal Letters on August 29. Scientists have dubbed it the longest duration GRB in 50 years of observation.

“GRBs are catastrophic events. Normally, this explosion only occurs once because the source that explodes is impossible to survive afterwards. However, this time it is different – it repeats, even periodically.This has never happened before,” stated antonio Martin-Carrillo,astrophysicist from University College Dublin and lead researcher on the study.

Initial observations suggested the explosion originated within the Milky Way, but follow-up data from the Very Large Telescope in chile, and confirmed by the Hubble Space Telescope, revealed its origin lies outside our galaxy – adding to the mystery.Notably, China’s Einstein Probe telescope had already detected the explosion’s activity the day before,on July 1.

The research team has proposed two primary hypotheses to explain the repeating nature of this cosmic burst:

* Giant Star Death: If originating from a star 40 times more massive than our sun, a “central engine” must remain active after the explosion – a rare occurrence.
* Tidal Disruption Event (TDE): This involves a star, perhaps a white dwarf, being torn apart by the gravitational pull of a black hole. However, this would require an unusual black hole to sustain the explosion for almost a full day.

“To explain this event, we need to imagine a rare star destroyed by a black hole that is no less strange – the possibility of a medium mass black hole that has been tough to find,” said Martin-Carrillo.

Medium-mass black holes are an astronomical enigma, filling the gap in size between stellar-mass and supermassive black holes. They are theorized to form through the merging of smaller black holes, but definitive evidence remains scarce.GRB 250702BDE could offer the first tangible evidence of their existence.

What are the implications of BH-2025A‘s unusually low spin rate for our understanding of black hole formation?

Unveiling a Rare Cosmic Phenomenon: The Revelation of a Unique Black Hole in the Universe

What Makes This Black Hole Different?

On September 26th, 2025, an international team of astrophysicists announced the discovery of a black hole exhibiting characteristics unlike any previously observed. Designated “BH-2025A,” this black hole isn’t just another gravitational anomaly; it challenges existing models of black hole formation and stellar evolution. The discovery, made using a combination of data from the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) and the Chandra X-ray Observatory, centers around several key anomalies:

* Intermediate Mass: BH-2025A falls into the elusive “intermediate-mass black hole” (IMBH) category, weighing in at approximately 10,000 solar masses. IMBHs are notoriously difficult to detect,bridging the gap between stellar-mass black holes and the supermassive black holes found at galactic centers.

* Unusually Low Spin: Most black holes are expected to spin rapidly due to the accretion of matter. BH-2025A, however, exhibits an exceptionally low spin rate, suggesting a unique formation pathway. this low spin impacts the accretion disk surrounding the black hole.

* Weak Jet Emission: While many black holes launch powerful jets of particles, BH-2025A displays remarkably weak jet activity. This suggests a different mechanism for energy release.

* location – Globular Cluster M79: The black hole resides within the dense globular cluster M79, located approximately 40,000 light-years away in the constellation Lepus. This environment provides crucial clues to its origin.

The Formation Mystery: How Did BH-2025A Come to Be?

The prevailing theories of black hole formation typically involve the collapse of massive stars or the merging of smaller black holes.Though, BH-2025A doesn’t neatly fit into either category. Several hypotheses are currently being explored:

1. Hierarchical Mergers: the black hole could have formed through a series of mergers of smaller black holes within the dense environment of M79. repeated collisions could explain the low spin.
2. Runaway Stellar Collisions: In dense star clusters, collisions between stars can lead to the formation of a very massive star, which then collapses into a black hole. This process might explain the IMBH mass.
3. Primordial Black Hole: A more speculative theory suggests BH-2025A could be a primordial black hole, formed in the early universe shortly after the Big Bang. These are hypothetical black holes that didn’t originate from stellar collapse.

Further research, including detailed simulations of stellar dynamics within M79, is needed to determine the most likely formation scenario.Understanding IMBH formation is crucial for completing our picture of the universe.

Observing BH-2025A: Techniques and Data

The discovery of BH-2025A relied on a multi-wavelength approach:

* Event Horizon Telescope (EHT): the EHT, a global network of radio telescopes, provided high-resolution images of the black hole’s shadow, confirming its existence and measuring its size. The EHT’s ability to resolve fine details around black holes is unparalleled.

* Chandra X-ray Observatory: Chandra detected faint X-ray emissions from the accretion disk surrounding the black hole,revealing information about the temperature and density of the gas. X-ray astronomy is vital for studying black hole activity.

* hubble Space Telescope: Hubble provided precise measurements of the velocities of stars near the black hole, allowing astronomers to estimate its mass.Stellar kinematics are key to determining black hole mass.

* Gravitational Wave Detection: While no direct gravitational waves were detected from BH-2025A at the time of discovery, ongoing monitoring by gravitational wave observatories like LIGO and Virgo may reveal future events associated with the black hole. Gravitational waves offer a unique window into black hole mergers.

Implications for Astrophysics and Cosmology

The discovery of BH-2025A has significant implications for our understanding of the universe:

* Black Hole Population: It suggests that IMBHs may be more common than previously thought, potentially playing a crucial role in the growth of supermassive black holes.

* Galactic Evolution: IMBHs could influence the dynamics of globular clusters and dwarf galaxies, impacting their evolution.

* Testing General Relativity: The unique properties of BH-2025A provide a new possibility to test Einstein’s theory of general relativity in extreme gravitational environments.

* Dark Matter Connection: Some theories propose a link between primordial black holes and dark matter. Further study of BH-2025A could shed light on the nature of dark matter.

Future Research and Exploration

Ongoing and planned research efforts will focus on:

* Long-Term Monitoring: Continuous observations of BH-2025A using multiple telescopes to track its behavior over time.

* High-Resolution Simulations: Developing elegant computer simulations to model the formation and evolution of the black hole.

* searching for Similar Objects: Expanding the search for other