Did you think that nothing can possibly be more spectacular and imposing than a supernova or a collision of stars? Think again, because a new cosmic blue ‘beast’ has captured the attention of astronomers. Luckily for us or not, the Universe has always been a cradle of mystery for the humanity.
The blue ‘beast’ is actually a fast blue optical transient (FBOT) spotted in X-rays and radio waves, and it has been dubbed as CSS161010. It may not be wider than a supernova, but it sure is more peculiar than what humanity was used to see in the Universe. The FBOT is a fast and powerful explosion that runs out of fuel very quickly. The distance to CSS161010 is beyond imagination: 500 million light-years.
What can trigger an FBOT
Astronomers believe that a good explanation for the existence of an FBOT is a peculiar path of star evolution that ultimately becomes a stellar explosion. The remnants of that explosion become a black hole or a neutron star, and that’s what triggers the FBOT.
Deanne Coppejans, the first author of the study, declared:
“We know of energetic explosions that can eject material at almost the speed of light, specifically gamma ray bursts, but they only launch a small amount of mass — about 1 millionth the mass of the sun. CSS161010 launched 1 to 10 percent the mass of the sun at more than half the speed of light — evidence that this is a new class of transient.”
However, regardless of what thrilling new things astronomers might learn about FBOT, one thing’s for sure: it cannot do any harm to us. The distance of 500 million light-years is way too large even for the speed of light to travel during a human lifetime. And according to Einstein, the speed of light is the maximum speed allowed by the laws of physics.
The study explaining the fast blue optical transients (FBOTs) has been published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
