NRAO: Astronomers Discover New Class of Cosmic Explosions
Posted: Tue May 26, 2020 4:48 pm
Astronomers Discover New Class of Cosmic Explosions
National Radio Astronomy Observatory | 2020 May 26
Astrophysicists Capture New Class of Transient Objects
Northwestern University | 2020 May 26
The ‘Cow’ Mystery Strikes Back: Two
More Rare, Explosive Events Captured
W.M. Keck Observatory | 2020 May 26
A Mildly Relativistic Outflow from the Energetic, Fast-rising Blue
Optical Transient CSS161010 in a Dwarf Galaxy ~ D.L. Coppejans et al
Emission from a Starburst Dwarf Galaxy at z = 0.27 ~ Anna Y. Q. Ho et al
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National Radio Astronomy Observatory | 2020 May 26
Astronomers have found two objects that, added to a strange object discovered in 2018, constitute a new class of cosmic explosions. The new type of explosion shares some characteristics with supernova explosions of massive stars and with the explosions that generate gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), but still has distinctive differences from each.
The saga began in June of 2018 when astronomers saw a cosmic blast with surprising characteristics and behavior. The object, dubbed AT2018cow (“The Cow”), drew worldwide attention from scientists and was studied extensively. While it shared some characteristics with supernova explosions, it differed in important aspects, particularly its unusual initial brightness and how rapidly it brightened and faded in just a few days.
In the meantime, two additional blasts — one from 2016 and one from 2018 — also showed unusual characteristics and were being observed and analyzed. The two new explosions are called CSS161010 (short for CRTS CSS161010 J045834-081803), in a galaxy about 500 million light-years from Earth, and ZTF18abvkwla (“The Koala”), in a galaxy about 3.4 billion light-years distant. Both were discovered by automated sky surveys (Catalina Real-time Transient Survey, All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae, and Zwicky Transient Facility) using visible-light telescopes to scan large areas of sky nightly.
Two teams of astronomers followed up those discoveries by observing the objects with the National Science Foundation’s Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA). Both teams also used the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope in India and the team studying CSS161010 used NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. Both objects gave the observers surprises. ...
In both cases, the follow-up observations indicated that the objects shared features in common with AT2018cow. The scientists concluded that these events, called Fast Blue Optical Transients (FBOTs), represent, along with AT2018cow, a type of stellar explosion significantly different from others. ...
Astrophysicists Capture New Class of Transient Objects
Northwestern University | 2020 May 26
The ‘Cow’ Mystery Strikes Back: Two
More Rare, Explosive Events Captured
W.M. Keck Observatory | 2020 May 26
A Mildly Relativistic Outflow from the Energetic, Fast-rising Blue
Optical Transient CSS161010 in a Dwarf Galaxy ~ D.L. Coppejans et al
- Astrophysical Journal Letters 895(1):L23 (2020 May 20) DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/ab8cc7
- arXiv.org > astro-ph > arXiv:2003.10503 > 23 Mar 2020 (v1), 23 May 2020 (v2)
Emission from a Starburst Dwarf Galaxy at z = 0.27 ~ Anna Y. Q. Ho et al
- Astrophysical Journal 895(1):49 (2020 May 20) DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ab8bcf
- arXiv.org > astro-ph > arXiv:2003.01222 > 02 Mar 2020 (v1), 13 Apr 2020 (v4)
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