A mysterious cosmic explosion observed by NASA’s Einstein Probe spacecraft has left astronomers scratching their heads. The blast, designated EP240408A, was initially thought to be caused by a gamma-ray burst or the collision of two neutron stars, but its unusual characteristics have raised new questions about what could have triggered it.
The Einstein Probe detected EP240408A in April last year with its X-ray eye, and since then, an international team of astronomers has been studying the phenomenon using ground-based telescopes and space-based instruments like NuSTAR and NICER. While some features of the explosion are consistent with a gamma-ray burst or the death of a massive star, others do not fit.
“We’re seeing something that doesn’t quite tick all the boxes for any known phenomenon,” said Brendan O’Connor, a researcher at Carnegie Mellon University. “The alternative is that we might be seeing something entirely new.”
This raises the possibility of a rare cosmic event called a jetted tidal disruption event (TDE), which occurs when a star gets too close to a supermassive black hole and is ripped apart by its gravitational force. However, this would require further investigation.
NASA’s NICER instrument has been instrumental in understanding these unusual explosions, and researchers are now looking forward to the next strange occurrence from the Einstein Probe.
Source: https://www.livescience.com/space/astronomy/astronomers-unsure-what-caused-weird-explosion-seen-by-einstein-probes-x-ray-eye