US Edition‘Biggest Booms Since The Big Bang’ Found As Black Holes Shred Stars
- Researchers at the Institute for Astronomy in Hawaii have identified extreme nuclear transients , a new category of the most powerful cosmic explosions, with their results published on June 4, 2025.
- These extreme nuclear transients happen when massive stars with masses exceeding three times that of the Sun approach supermassive black holes closely enough to be ripped apart, unleashing enormous amounts of energy.
- Significant occurrences include two flares detected by ESA’s Gaia mission during 2016 and 2018, followed by a third event identified by the Zwicky Transient Facility in 2020; all displayed gradual, sustained brightening distinct from typical transient phenomena.
- Gaia18cdj, an extreme nuclear transient identified in the study, unleashed energy exceeding that of the most powerful supernovae by a factor of 25, outshining the total lifetime emission of over 100 suns, and maintained its brightness for several years, as explained by lead researcher Jason Hinkle.
- These rare ENTs, which occur about 10 million times less frequently than supernovae, shed light on the growth of black holes during a period when the universe was roughly half as old as it is today, and they will support future investigations into cosmic evolution.
17 Articles
17 Articles
Astronomers Identify 'Extreme Nuclear Transients' 100 Times More Energetic than Supernovae
Astronomers have revealed the detection of extreme nuclear transients (ENT), a newly identified class of cosmic events that represent the most energetic explosions ever observed. Researchers at the University of Hawaii’s Institute for Astronomy (IfA) made the explosive discovery, witnessing enormous stars, each with masses at least three times that of the Sun, straying too close to the destructive pull of supermassive black holes. The result is…
Astronomers detect most powerful explosions since Big Bang
At any given time across the universe, massive cosmic bodies are releasing incomprehensible amounts of energy. Stars burn like celestial nuclear fusion reactors, quasars emit thousands of times the luminosity of the Milky Way galaxy, and asteroids slam into planets. But all of these pale in comparison to a new class of events discovered by researchers at the University of Hawai’i’s Institute for Astronomy (IfA). According to their findings publi…
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